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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



A TREATISE 

ON 

FOOD AND EGG PRODUCTION. 



BY FREDERICK KELLEY. 



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LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CODies Received 

FEB 23 1909 

Copyrikfit Entry 
CLASS cx_ XXC No 

copy a. 

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COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY FREDERICK KELLEY. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS OX THE DYNAMIC 
RELATIONS OF FOOD. 



All food comes primarily from the vegetable king- 
dom, and vegetable products are built up through the 
agency of the sun's rays. It may be said that the energy 
contained in these rays, which has been employed in pro- 
ducing the compound, is fixed or rendered latent within 
it. The formation of vegetable products is coincident 
with the disengagement of oxygen from oxidized prin- 
ciples and the development of combustible compounds. 
To effect this disengagement the operation of force is re- 
quired. Now, the force so employed has its source in 
the heat and light evolved from the sun, and that which 
is used for the purpose may be said to become fixed and 
to exist in a latent condition — to exist stored up in the 
product, ready to be again liberated on exposure to con- 
ditions favorable to oxidation. Thus these vegetable 
products contain a store of latent force, which may for 
an indefinite period remain as such, or may be liberated 
soon after it has been fixed Whenever liberated, it is no 
more nor less than the equivalent of the force which has 
been used in the formation of the product. Our coal 
fields represent a vast magazine of force drawn, ages 
ago, from the sun's rays, and capable at any moment of 
being set free by the occurrence of oxidation. 



4 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

Vegetable products, then, may be regarded as con- 
taining a store of force accumulated from the vast supply 
continually emitted with the sun's rays; and, upon the 
principle of the indestructibility of force, that force which 
has been applied to unlocking the elements in the com- 
binations from which vegetable products are built up, and 
to forming the new compound, is contained in such com- 
pound in a latent state. Now, animals either directly or 
indirectly subsist upon these vegetable products, and are 
thence supplied by them with accumulated force. By 
oxidation the force is set free in an active state under 
some form of manifestation or other. It matters not in 
what way — whether rapidly or slowly, or under what 
circumstances — whether inside or outside the living 
system, the oxidation occurs ; the result is the same, as 
far as the amount of the force liberated is concerned — it 
constitutes the equivalent of the solar force originally 
made use of. 

Thus it is that the various forms of force manifested 
in the actions of animal life trace their origin to that 
emitted from the sun. Plants are media for fixing solar 
force — for converting actual into latent or potential 
energy. Animals reconvert latent into various forms of 
actual force. Thus, in the various forms of actual force 
liberated by the actions of animal life, we have the equiva- 
lent of that which has been fixed by plants from the sun. 
As there is a revolution of matter, so is there a revolution 
of force within and around us. 

In the animal system, combustible material is supplied 
under the form of the various kinds of food, and oxygen 
is taken in by the process of respiration or breathing. 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. S 

From the chemical energy due to the combination of 
these, force is liberated in an active stale; and besides 
manifesting itself as heat, and in other ways peculiar to 
the animal system, is capable of performing mechanical 
work. According to the most reliable authorities, the 
animal economy, in respect of its capacity to turn force 
to account in the accomplishment of mechanical work, is 
a more perfect instrument than a steam-engine. All cal- 
culations lead to the conclusion that while in the steam- 
engine only about a tenth of the force liberated by the 
combustion of its fuel is realizable as mechanical work, 
the rest escaping* as heat, the human body is capable of 
turning at least a fifth of the power of its food into the 
equivalent of work. However, there is this in favor of 
the steam engine — its fuel is far less expensive than the 
food of an animal being. 

The animal body, then, may be regarded as holding 
an analogous position to a machine, in which a transmu- 
tation of chemical into other forms of force is taking 
place. Food on the one hand, and air on the other, are 
the factors concerned in the chemical action that occurs. 
It is the changes between food and air wherein the mani- 
festations of animal life, consisting of heat production, 
muscular contraction, nervous (including mental) action, 
and nutritive or formative, secretory, and assimilative 
action arise. The substances thrown out or dismissed 
from the system are merely changed products of what 
was taken into the system. The elements are the same, 
in nature and in quantity, in the two cases, but their 
forms of combinations, and, with them their force ac- 
companiment, are different. The force employed in 



6 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

building up the organic compounds belonging to food is 
again evolved as they descend by oxidation into more 
simple combinations, and in the. force evolved we have the 
representative of the active manifestations of animal life. 
What is required in food is matter that is susceptible 
of undergoing change in the system under the influence 
of the presence of oxygen. Life implies change, and the 
manifestations of life are due to the reaction of food, 
with the derivatives from it, and air upon each other. 
While in the inorganic kingdom a tendency to a state of 
rest prevails — while the closest affinities tend to become 
satisfied, and so balance each the other, in a manifestly 
living body rest is impossible. It is true, living organ- 
isms of certain kinds may exist in a state of rest, but then 
there is a suspension of vital manifestations. The state 
constitutes that which is properly denominated "dormant 
vitality." Animal organisms may exist in it, and the 
seed of a plant naturally remains for awhile in it. The 
molecules rest, and there is an absence of any show of 
vital activity prevailing. Concurrently a change is a par- 
ticular direction occurs. Organic compounds become re- 
solved by the agency of oxygen into more simple com- 
binations, as carbonic acid, water, and urea, and are no 
longer of any service. To maintain a continuance of vital 
activity fresh organic material is required; hence the 
demand for food. But food and the other material factor 
of life — oxygen — do not constitute all that is needed. It 
is further necessary that the two should be brought within 
the sphere of influence of living matter, in order that the 
changes may be made to pursue the particular line of 
direction resulting in the phenomena of life. 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 
FOOD. 



CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS OF FOOD 

Of the various elements known to exist in nature only 
a limited number enter into the constitution of living 
bodies. The following is a list of those found as con- 
stituents of the human body. The first four, viz., carbon, 
hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, exist in far larger quan- 
tity than any of the others. As for those which occur 
towards the end of the list, they are present only in 
minute quantity, if, indeed, they are invariably present. 
It is more than doubtful if they are to be regarded as 
essential constituents. 

Carbon, 

Hydrogen, 

Oxygen, 

Nitrogen, 

Sulphur, 

Phosphorus, 

Chlorine, 

Sodium, 

Potassium, 

Calcium, 

Magnesium, 

Iron, 

Fluorine, 

Silicon, 

Manganese, 

Aluminium, 

Copper. 

The food being the source from which the elements 
forming the constituents of the body are derived, it 



8 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

follows that food must contain all the elements which 
are there met with. No article can, as food, satisfy the 
requirements of life that fails to comply with this con- 
dition. 

ALIMENTARY PRINCIPLES. 

Although it is necessary that our food should contain 
the elements that have been enumerated — and contain 
them in such proportion as to furnish the requisite amount 
of each to the system — yet it is not with these elements 
as such that, from an alimentary point of view, we have 
to deal. It is only in a state of combination that the 
elements are of any service to us as food ; and, as has been 
already mentioned, the combination must have been 
formed by the agency of a living organism — the com- 
bination must, in other words, constitute an organic 
product. 

In a scientific consideration of food it is necessary to 
speak first of the alimentary principles. It is only, in- 
deed, by looking at it through its constituent principles 
that we are in position to discuss its after effects. Popu- 
larly, what we eat and take in consist of food and drink, 
the one supplying us with solid, the other with liquid 
matter. From a physiological point of view this is worth- 
less. "Food" and "drink" constitute terms referring only 
to the particular state in which an article for consumption 
may happen to exist — whether it is in a solid or a liquid 
form. What is drunk, for instance, and this is particu- 
larly true of milk, may be rich in food, or solid matter, 
and in the food we consume there is invariably a large 
proportion of liquid matter. 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 9 

The two material factors of life are food and air; 
and food may be considered as comprising that which 
contributes to the growth and nutrition of the body, and, 
by oxidation, to force-production. Regarded in tin's com- 
prehensive light, food embraces both solid and liquid 
matter; and the primary natural division is into organic 
and inorganic portions — that is, combinations of elements 
producible only through the agency of life; and chemical 
combinations drawn simply from the mineral kingdom 
and incorporated with the others. 

The inorganic portion of food consists of w T ater and 
various saline principles. The organic portion may be 
subdivided into compounds of which nitrogen forms a 
constituent, and compounds from which it is absent; in 
other words, into nitrogenized and non-nitrogenized com- 
pounds. The non-nitrogenized alimentary principles are 
composed of three elements — carbon, oxygen and hydro- 
gen, variously united together, while the nitrogenized 
likewise contain these three elements, but, in addition, 
nitrogen ; and, for the most part, sulphur, or sulphur and 
phosphorus as well. It stands to reason that for the 
growth and repair of the various textures of the body, 
as these have nitrogen forming an essential ingredient of 
their constitution, nitfogenized compounds must be sup- 
plied; but, these compounds are likewise susceptible of 
application to heat production. They are truly tissue- 
forming materials, but, by the separation of some waste 
matter a compound is left, which may be appropriated to 
heat production. It may be asserted that there is suf- 
ficient to show that the nitrogenized principles in reality 
subserve both purposes in the animal economy. 



10 A TREATISE OX FOODS. 

In fat, again, we have a non-nitrogenous principle. 
and one belonging, therefore, to the heat producing 
group. There is every reason to believe, however, that 
fat is essential to tissue development. It seems to be 
intrinsically mixed up with nitrogenized matter in the 
animal textures. Certainly, it may be said to be directly 
applied towards the formation of adipose tissue. Fat. 
therefore, takes rank as a nutrient no less than as a heat 
producing food. Fats are also concerned in muscular 
force-production. 

Some authorities classify food in several groups of 
principles such as : 

Aquec 

Saccharine, 

Oily, 

Albuminous, 

Saline. 

The saccharine and oil groups comprise non-nitro- 
genized principles, while the albuminous comprehends 
the nitrogenized. 

Food falls naturally into — 

Organic, and 
Inorganic, divisions. 

Xext the organic is subdivisible into — 

Nitrogenous, and 
Xon-nitrogenou- 

and further that the non-nitrogenous is naturally and 
conveniently again subdivisible into — 

Fats and 
Carbohydrates; 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 11 

the former consisting of carbon and hydrogen in com- 
bination with only a small amount of oxygen; the latter 
of carbon with oxygen and hydrogen always in such re- 
lation to each other as to be in the exact proportion to 
form water. To this latter group belong such as starch, 
sugar, gum, etc. It mus-t be observed that there are a 
few principles which do not strictly fall within either of 
the preceding groups. Such, for instance, as alcohol, the 
vegetable acids, and pectin or vegetable jelly. Alcohol 
occupies an intermediate place between the fats and car- 
bohydrates, while the others are even more oxidized com- 
pounds than the carbohydrates — in other words, contain 
a larger amount of oxygen than is required for the con- 
version of their hydrogen into water. These principles 
are hardly of sufficient importance, in an alimentary point 
of view, to call for their consideration under a distinct 
head, and are generally spoken of in connection with the 
carbohydrates. 

NITROGENOUS ALIMENTARY PRINCIPLES. 

Nitrogen enters largely into the composition of the 
animal body. It therefore requires to be freely supplied 
from without. Although living in an atmosphere about 
four-fifths of which consist of nitrogen, yet it is not from 
this source (though that idea was once entertained), that 
our supply of nitrogen is obtained. Nitrogen, to be avail- 
able for us, must be supplied in a state of combination. It 
is not, indeed, with nitrogen in the form of an element 
that we have anything to do in the question of alimenta- 
tion, but only with compounds containing it, and such 
compounds, it may be said, that have been produced 



12 A TREATISE OX FOODS. 

under the influence of life — that is, compounds which 
answer to the name of ''organic." 

Organic nitrogenous matter, then, and not Nitrogen, 
is what we require to have supplied to us, and what alone 
we have to deal with here. Such nitrogenous matter 
must, therefore, constitute an essential ingredient of our 
food, and we find that it there exists under various chem- 
ical forms. If we look at the nitrogenized alimentary 
principles which have been made known, «some are char- 
acterized by yielding protein when subjected to the action 
of an alkali and heat, while from others no protein is sim- 
ilarly to be procured. The former comprise the albu- 
min is jroup, and are often referred to as the protein 
compounds : the latter constitute the gelatinous principles. 

When Mulder first discovered protein, the ;mce 

was regarded as forming the b the albuminous prin- 

ciples. It contains the four elements — carbon, hydrogen, 
oxygen and nitrogen; and each of the albuminous prin- 
ciples was regarded as simply resulting from the com- 
bination oi the supposed base with different quantitie- :' 
sulphur and phosphorus, or sulphur only. It must be 
stated, however, that there is nothing to show that protein 
really exists in the compounds from which it is to be 
obtained. It can be regarded only as a product of the 
chemical process to which it is necessary to subject the 
compounds to obtain it. It serves, however, to link 
ther certain important physiological compounds. 

Albumen may be looked upon as the most important 
representative of the protein group. It consists of four 
elements — carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, with 
the addition of some sulphur and phosphorus. As it is 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 13 

met with in animal productions, it is in such intimate 
union with fatty, alkaline, and earthy matter, that it 
is with some difficulty separable from them. It varies to 
some extent in its behavior, as it is obtained from dif- 
ferent sources. The albumen of the blood, for instance, 
does not agree in all respects with the albumen of the 
white of the egg. One of the most striking properties 
of albumen is its coagulability upon the application of 
heat. It, therefore, exists under two states, viz., soluble 
and coagulated albumen. That albumen can afford the 
nitrogenous matter required for nutrition is proved by 
its being the principle in the egg from which are de- 
veloped the nitrog'enous tissues of the chick. 

Casein forms the protein compound of milk. It is 
distinguishable from albumen by not being coagulable 
by heat, and by being thrown down by organic acids 
which do not precipitate albumen. Besides the four ele- 
ments — carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen — it con- 
tains sulphur, but no phosphorus. 

Vegetable Albumen is contained in wheat and the 
other seeds of the Cerealia. The juices of most vege- 
tables, such as turnips, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, etc., 
yield more or less precipitate with heat by virtue of its 
presence. It is also found in considerable abundance in 
association with vegetable casein in the oily seeds, such 
as almonds, nuts, etc. 

Vegetable Casein can be obtained from peas, beans, 
and other leguminous seeds, and is sometimes specially 
denominated legumin. It also exists, with albumen, in 
the almond and such like oily seeds. 



14 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

Gelatinous Principles constitute nitrogenous com- 
pounds, but do not yield protein like the compounds that 
have just been referred to. They comprise gelatin and 
chondrin, and are obtainable only from animal products; 
gelatin from bone and other structures containing fibrous 
tissue, and chondrin from cartilage. The most striking 
property they possess is that of their watery solution 
gelatinizing upon cooling. It is gelatin which forms the 
basis of soups. Besides carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and 
nitrogen, as constituent elements, a small amount of sul- 
phur appears also to be present. They contain no phos- 
phorus. 

Now, it has been stated that the gelatinous principles 
which have fallen under consideration are to be obtained 
only from animal .products. No nitrogenous compound 
of the kind is met with in vegetable materials. The jelly 
yielded by fruits and some other vegetable substances is 
quite a different article. It consists only of the three 
elements — carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and is known 
chemically as pectin or pectic acid. 

All the nitrogenous principles must undergo digestion 
before they can enter the system. Digestion, in fact, is 
simply a process which has for its object to fit substances 
for absorption into the system ; and the nitrogenous prin- 
ciples are in a state to resist absorption, until they have 
been liquified and transformed by the agency of digestion. 

NON-NITROGENOUS ALIMENTARY 
PRINCIPLES. 

While nitrogenous matter may be regarded as form- 
ing the essential basis of structures possessing active or 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 15 

living properties, the non-nitrogenous principles may be 
looked upon as supplying the source of power. The one 
may be spoken of as holding the position of the instru- 
ment of action, while the other supplies the motive power. 
Nitrogenous alimentary matter may, it is true, by oxi- 
dation contribute to the generation of the moving force, 
but, in fulfilling this office it is evident that it is split up 
into two distinct portions, one containing the nitrogen 
which is eliminated as useless, and a residuary non- 
nitrogenous portion which is retained and utilized in 
force-production. It is true also that non-nitrogenous 
matter may be applied to tissue formation, but it is prob- 
able that, in doing so, it is simply for the purpose of 
being stored up for subsequent appropriation to force- 
production, according as circumstances may require. 
The non-nitrogeneous alimentary principles comprise : 

i st. The hydrocarbons or fats; 
2nd. The carbohydrates, starch, sugar, etc. , and 
3rd. Principles such as alcohol not falling strictly 
within either preceding group. 

Hydrocarbons or Fats. These principles constitute 
compounds consisting of carbon and hydrogen, combined 
with only a small proportion of oxygen. Represented in 
round numbers, the following may be given as the per- 
centage composition of the chief fatty principles : 

Carbon 79 

Hydrogen 1 1 

Oxygen 10 

100 

Fats are supplied to us in both animal and vegetable 
articles of food. The digestion of fat takes place in the 



16 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

small intestine. It traverses the mouth without under- 
going any change beyond that induced by the mechanical 
action of mastication. As regards animal and vegetable 
fats, it appears that the former are easier of digestion and 
absorption than the latter. A given quantity of fat will 
develop more than twice as much heat in the process of 
oxidation as the same quantity of starch. The actual 
heat expressed in units : 

Beef fat, 90 heat units 

Starch, 39 

Cane sugar, 34 ' ' 

Commercial grape-sugar, 33 " 

Looking at this difference in the relative value of 
fatty, starchy and saccharine matters as heat-producers, 
we see the wisdom of the instinctive consumption of food 
abounding in fatty matter by the inhabitants of the Arctic 
regions. The Esquimaux and other dwellers in the cold 
zone devour greedily the fat of whales, seals, etc., and 
find in this the most efficient kind of combustible material. 
In the tropics, on the other hand, the food consumed by 
the native inhabitants consists mainly of farinaceous and 
succulent vegetable matter. On account of the high tem- 
perature of the surrounding air less heat is required to be 
produced within the body, and a less efficient combustible 
material is able to supply what is needed for the main- 
tenance of the ordinary temperature. 

THE CARBOHYDRATES. 

The Carbohydrates forming a second systematic group 
of non-nitrogenous alimentary principles, are compounds 
in which the hydrogen and oxygen exist in the proportion 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 17 

to form water. Hence these compounds have been des- 
ignated hydrates of carbon or carbohydrates. It must 
not, however, be inferred that the elements are in reality 
grouped as the name would imply. There is no ground 
for such a conclusion. All that can be said is that the 
respective quantities of the elements are such as would 
form water. But from this it does not follow that they 
exist in combination as water, to be then linked as such 
to the carbon. Comprised in the group of compounds 
we have : 

Starch, 

Cane-sugar, 

Grape-sugar, 

Sugar of milk (lactin), 

Amyloid substance, 

Gum, 

Dextrin, 

Cellulose, 

Woody fibre, 

Lactic acid, 

Acetic acid. 

Starch may be regarded as the most important of the 
group, on account of its entering so largely as it does 
into some of our staple articles of food. It is met with 
only in vegetable products, and is found stored up in the 
form of little granules, or solid particles, in many seeds, 
roots, stems, and some fruits. In cold water the granules 
remain unaltered, but when subjected to the influence of 
boiling water they swell up, burst, and form a mucilage 
which assumes a gelatinous nature on being allowed to 
cool. 



18 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

Cane Sugar. There are various kinds of sugar, and 
this is the crystallizable variety, which is sq extensively 
employed as an article of food. It is produced only by 
the vegetable kingdom, and is contained in the juice of 
the stems, roots, and other parts of various plants. It is 
present in a dissolved state in these juices instead of ex- 
isting in a solid form, as is the case with starch. 

Grape Sugar, is met with extensively as a vegetable 
product in the juices of many fruits and other parts of 
plants, and is also readily obtainable from other carbohy- 
drates by chemical means, and likewise by the influence 
of organic bodies in a state of change. It may, perhaps, 
be set down as representing the lowest of the neutral 
compounds of the carbohydrate group, as it constitutes 
that form into which they are all easily convertible, and 
into which they appear to have a tendency to descend. It 
is a substance which requires no .preliminary process of 
digestion to fit it for absorption, and it may be considered 
that the main part of that which is received into the ali- 
mentary canal passes without modification into the blood 
vessels, by virtue of the physical property of diffusibility 
which it enjoys. 

Gum, like starch, extensively pervades the vegetable 
kingdom. It is met with in the juices of nearly all plants, 
and occurs in its purest form as an exudation upon the 
bark of certain trees. With water it produces a tasteless, 
ropy liquid strongly adhesive. Gum is convertible into 
sugar by boiling with dilute sulphuric acid. 

Cellulose. This constitutes the basis of the structure 
forming the walls of the cells, fibres, and vessels of plants. 
It is presented in a nearly pure form in cotton, linen, and 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 19 

elder pith. It offers strong- resistance to solution, but 
yields, however, to the more powerful chemical agents. 

It may be said here that the carbohydrates conduce to 
the production of fat because : 

1st. Certainly a large portion of the fat of the her- 
bivora fattened for human food must be derived from 
other substances than fatty matter in the food. 

2nd. When fattening animals are fed upon their 
most appropriate food, much of their stored-up fat must 
be produced from the carbohydrates it supplies. 

3rd. Nitrogenous substances may also serve as a 
source of fat, more especially when it is in excess, and the 
supply of available non-nitrogenous constituents is rela- 
tively defective. 

INORGANIC ALIMENTARY PRINCIPLES. 

Although it is to the changes taking place in organic 
matter that the manifestations of life are to be traced, 
yet organic matter alone, it has been found, will not suf- 
fice for supplying all that is wanted for the occurrence 
of living action. Inorganic matter, under the form of 
water and certain saline principles, constitutes an indis- 
pensable part of a living being, and hence must enter into 
the composition of food. 

Water, besides fulfilling many other subsidiary offices, 
is essential for the occurrence of molecular change or 
mobility — the essence of the manifestations of life. In 
the absence of water, a state of molecular rest which 
means an absence of vital activity prevails. Water does 
not in itself undergo any chemical alteration, and hence 
is not susceptible of liberating force — does not, in other 



20 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

words, constitute a force-producing agent, but it con- 
tributes to chemical change by supplying a necessary con- 
dition for its occurrence in other bodies. 

Saline matter stands, if not to the full extent, nearly 
so, in the same position as water as regards the non- 
possession in itself of force-producing properties. Some 
of the saline matter of food, it is true, may be susceptible 
of oxidation, and thereby give rise to the liberation of 
force, but this, it may be considered, is not the particular 
office which saline matter is designed to fill. It forms a 
necessary part of the organism, without, however, consti- 
tuting the source of the manifestation of power. It exists 
intimately incorporated with the organic principles com- 
prising the different component parts of the fabric, and 
enters as an essential element into the constitution of the 
secretions. 

Mineral matter is thus required to be furnished for 
the growth and nutrition of the constituent parts of the 
organism, and also for the formation of the secretions. 
It is required by the plant as well as by the animal, and 
hence we find in all natural organic products a certain 
admixture of mineral matter. It hereby follows that 
whether the food be derived from the animal or the 
vegetable kingdom, there exists, entering into its consti- 
tution, a definite proportion of mineral matter; and, just 
such as is required by the animal being has been drawn 
from the inorganic kingdom by the plant, whereby, with- 
out going further than the organic substance itself, the 
animal meets with the mineral matter that is needed. 

Of the various saline principles necessary, the chief 
consist of combinations of lime, magnesia, potash, soda, 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 21 

and iron, with chlorine, phosphoric acid, carbonic acid, 
and in smaller quantity, sulphuric acid. Each has its 
share of importance, but lime and phosphoric acid may be 
looked upon as ocupying the highest position in this re- 
spect. From no structural element of the body is phos- 
phate of lime, it would appear, absent, and its incorpora- 
tion with the nitrogenous constituent principles is so in- 
timate that much difficulty is experienced in effecting a 
complete separation without involving the destruction of 
the compound. Casein is a nitrogenous principle which 
is conspicuous for the tenacity with which it holds a large 
quantity of phosphate of lime incorporated with it. From 
what is observed, indeed, in the relations of the organic 
and mineral principles to each other, it seems that in 
many instances an actual chemical union of the two exist. 

That the various kinds of saline matter must fulfil a 
specific office in the economy of life may be looked upon 
as shown, if proof of it, were wanted, by the special 
manner in which it is distributed. 

Although so closely allied in their chemical properties, 
potash and soda cannot be made to replace each other in 
the living system, and the same is likewise noticeable in 
the case of lime and magnesia. In the process of veg- 
etable alimentation a qualitative and quantitative selection 
is made by the organism from the soil around. While 
in some plants one kind of mineral matter may predomi- 
nate, in others it may be another kind, and to such an 
extent may this preponderance reach as to have led to 
plants being characterized as potash plants, lime plants, 
siliceous plants, and so on. In the animal organism a like 
inequality of distribution is also observable. Thus, in the 



22 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

blood, it is found that phosphates and potash salts pre- 
dominate in the corpuscles, and chlorides and soda salts 
in the plasma around. Again, as regards the distribution 
of potash and soda generally, it is noticeable that the 
former is the alkali belonging particularly to the formed 
tissue, the latter to the infiltrating fluids. Saline matter, 
therefore, is evidently concerned as one of the factors of 
the formative operations carried on, and no food can 
satisfy the requirements of life that does not contain an 
appropriate amount of certain saline principles. 

In the egg, and also in milk, we have articles pro- 
vided by nature for the special purpose of being employed 
in the construction and subsequent maintenance of the 
animal organism. Milk is complete in itself. In it exists, 
besides the organic principles, all the inorganic matter, 
including both salines and water, that is needed. The 
egg, taken as a whole, stands in a similar position, but it 
is not so with regard to the contents exclusive of the shell. 
It is well known that from the egg all the constituent 
parts of the young animal are formed — its skeleton as 
well as its various soft textures. Now, for the construc- 
tion of the skeleton an amount of earthy matter is re- 
quired which does not exist preformed in the soft con- 
tents of the egg, but has to be drawn from the shell. 
During the process of incubation, with the co-operation 
of the atmospheric air which permeates the shell, it ap- 
pears that the phosphorus present in the yolk gradually 
undergoes oxidation and becomes converted into phos- 
phoric acid. This acts upon and dissolves the carbonate 
of lime belonging to the shell, which thus as incubation 
proceeds becomes thinner and thinner. If the egg is to 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 23 

be compared with milk, both the contents and the shell 
must be reckoned to bring them into an analogous posi- 
tion. 

It is necessary that saline matter receive due consid- 
eration as a nutritive element of food. It is perfectly 
true that in the preparation of food for human consump- 
tion the natural article is often considerably depreciated 
in nutritive value by the abstraction that may happen to 
have occurred. Meat soaked or boiled in water loses 
more or less of its soluable portion, and, included in this, 
are its nutritive salts. Roasted meat, on this account, is 
of higher value than boiled. In the process of salting a 
portion estimated at about fifteen percent of the nutritive 
juice escapes into the brine. In the boiling of vegetables 
nutritive principles, and particularly the nutritive of salts, 
are removed by the water. The separation that is effected 
in the dressing of flour leaves this product in an inferior 
position to the grain from which it is derived. Both the 
saline and nitrogenous matters belonging to wheat are 
chiefly encountered in the outer or tegumentary part of 
the grain, and are, therefore, more or less excluded from 
white bread. It is a scientific fact, often proven by ex- 
periments, that a dog dies if fed on white bread, while 
its health does not suffer at all if its food consist of brown 
bread, or bread made of unbolted flour. 

It must certainly be conceded that if our food con- 
sisted only of eggs, we should require, in order to satisfy 
the requirements of nutrition, to place ourselves in the 
same position as the developing chick, and consume the 
shell as well as its contents. Again, if corn formed our 
staple food, as it may happen to do in the case of the 



24 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

horse, etc., we should be obliged to consume the whole 
of the grain to obtain all of the nutritive principles we 
require. It is a mixture of animal and vegetable food, 
however, which forms our natural diet, and the diet 
which is actually employed by the great majority of man- 
kind. Now, if we are supplied with the nutritive salts 
through meat or other articles consumed, we can spare 
them without detriment from our bread. Nor need there 
be waste involved in this proceeding. If our taste leads 
us to prefer bread made from white flour, and thereby 
to reject the outer part of the grain, it does not follow 
that in so doing we are committing an act of dietetic fool- 
ishness, for what we do not use ourselves may be, and 
in reality is, turned to account in feeding animals that 
are either kept to serve some useful purpose, or reared 
for consumption as food; and. in the latter case, the 
nutritive salts which we originally rejected in separating 
the bran from flour may actually reach us after all among 
the constituents of animal food. 

ANIMAL ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES 

Animal food being identical in composition with the 
structures of the body, requires neither addition nor sub- 
traction to enable it to administer to the purposes of 
nutrition. The chief characteristic of animal food is the 
large amount of nitrogenous matter it contains. This, 
it is true, adapts it for the construction and maintenance 
of the body, but food is also required for force-produc- 
tion, and provided a certain amount of nitrogenous mat- 
ter be supplied, the force-production is better derived 
from one or other of the forms of non-nitrogenous mat- 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 25 

ter. Such may be effected by the presence of a certain 
quantity of fat, with the nitrogenous matter, and with 
a proper combination the adjustment may be made from 
animal food alone, so as just to meet the requirements 
without incurring waste on either side. Hence the ad- 
vantage of the common practice, which is doubtless due 
to something more than accident, of eating some kinds 
of food rich in fatty matter, as bacon or pork, with food 
such as chicken, rabbit, etc., which consist mainly of 
nitrogenous matter. 

Animal food is made up of : 

1st. The various parts of animals. 

2nd. Eggs; and 

3rd. Milk with the products from it : — cream, butter 

and cheese. 

The food falling under the first head is popularly 
classified into : 

Meat, 

Poultry, 

Game, 

Wild-fowl, 

Fish. 

The meats we ordinarily consume are all derived from 
vegetable feeders. They consist of : 

Beef, 

Mutton, 

Veal, 

Lamb, 

Pork, 

Bacon, 

Venison, 



26 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

Rabbit, and 
Turtle for soups. 

The flesh, bones, internal or visceral organs, and even, 
as from the pig, the blood of the slaughtered animal, are 
all turned to account as food. They each require con- 
sideration. First, however, remarks will be made on the 
influence of age, sex, size, season, mode of life, nature of 
feeding, and mode of death, upon the flesh of animals. 

The flesh of young animals is more tender than that 
of old, but experience shows that it is more resistant to 
the digestive powers. Veal and lamb, for instance, are 
found by the dyspeptic to tax the stomach more than beef 
and mutton. The flesh of an aged animal, as is well 
known, may be so tough as to render it almost refusable. 
The tissues of young animals are more gelatinous, less 
stimulating, and of less nutritive value than those of the 
adult and aged, which, instead, contain a larger amount 
of fibrin and of the flavoring principle. The flesh of very 
young animals, indeed, contains so very little fibrin, and 
flavoring principle, as to be almost unpleasantly soft, 
flabby, and insipid. Animals of middle age afford the 
most digestible and best flavored beef. Beef of the larger 
breeds of oxen is in greatest perfection at about seven 
years old ; that of the smaller breeds, a year or two earlier. 
Cow beef can scarcely be too young. Wether mutton 
is best at four to five years old : ewe mutton at about two 
years old. 

Sex greatly influences the quality of the flesh, that 
of the female being more delicate and finely grained 
than that of the entire male, which, during the time that 
the genital organs are in a state of functional activity, 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 27 

may be so coarse and rank as to render it almost uneat- 
able. The buck, bull, and ram form examples. Castra- 
tion deprives the meat of this strong flavor, and improves 
it altogether for edible purposes. Spaying also improves 
the edible qualities of the female animal. These opera- 
tions, therefore, particularly that of castration, are com- 
monly performed where the animals are destined to serve 
only as food. They are even practiced in the case of the 
bird. The capon is an example; and it is well known that 
in this mutilated state the animal becomes larger, fatter, 
and more tender than when the sexual organs remain 
intact. 

In Season and Out of Season are common expressions 
as applied to animals. Their meaning is well known, and 
they signify that there is a season when animal is in a 
better state for consumption as food than at another. 
Meat is in general in highest season during the first 
months of winter, that is, after the animal has been 
afforded the advantage of an abundance of fresh summer 
food; mutton and beef are never actually out of season, 
but they are in better condition and of better flavor dur- 
ing the months of November, December, and January, 
than at other times. Pork is absolutely out of season 
during the summer months. The season for young" 
meats, as veal and lamb, is when a sufficient time has 
elapsed after the breeding period for the animal to have 
arrived at a state suitable for consumption as food. The 
breeding period varies somewhat in different breeds, and 
thus a supply of young meat may be secured for some 
length of time. By exposure to certain conditions, also, 
the period of heat in a female may be considerably ad- 



28 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

vanced. In this way it is that lamb is procurable as an 
article for the table in the winter. With sheep kept in 
cold and poor pasture the lambing season is retarded. 

The mode of life exerts its influence on the flesh of 
animals. In the wild state there is very much less fat 
present than in a well-fed domesticated state. In the 
former case the meat also is higher in color and richer in 
flavor and extractives. 

Some kinds of food influence in a marked manner the 
character of the meat. Feeding oxen upon oil cake com- 
municates a yellow color to the fat. Oily foods also have 
a tendency to make soft fat. Turnips give a very notice- 
able flavor to mutton. The fragrant herbs belonging to 
different pastures produce their influence upon the taste 
of the meat. The art of feeding animals is directed to 
increasing the amount of fat ; they are fattened, in other 
words, for the table. If this fattening process be carried 
on only to a certain point, the alimentary value of the 
meat is increased, but when carried to an extreme, as we 
see it in some of the animals exhibited at the great cattle 
shows, the fat, as far as our requirements is concerned, 
is out of proportion to the nitrogenous matter, and thus 
an actual waste is incurred. In killing* an animal the loss 
of blood certainly involves a loss or a waste of nutritive 
material. It would thereby be condemned if it did not 
possess counterbalancing advantages. Besides rendering 
the meat more pleasant to the eye, it enables it to keep 
longer and improves the delicacy of its flavor. The 
Mosaic law is very strict regarding the killing of animals 
for food, and the regulations are such as to secure to the 
fullest extent the removal of the blood. Jews, as a point 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 29 

of religion, will not eat the flesh of any animal that has 
not been killed by a slaughterer of their own persuasion. 
They consider their meat superior to that of others, and 
even some Christians prefer it. It is usual to keep an 
animal for a short time without food before being killed, 
and it is believed that the meat thereby keeps better. It 
is obvious, however, that the fasting must not be pro- 
longed sufficiently to produce an unhealthy state. 

To give additional whiteness to veal, which is looked 
upon as a desirable quality for it to possess, it was form- 
erly a custom to bleed the animal pretty freely a day or 
two before being killed. It is well known that meat is 
greatly improved in tenderness by being allowed to hang 
for some time after the animal is killed. While the fibres 
are set by the rigor of death, it is much harder than 
before or afterwards. 

It must be understood that no fixed composition exists 
and that the analyses furnished by different authorities 
may show figures that somewhat differ. The relative 
amount of fat and nitrogenous matter, for instance, varies 
considerably in samples of meat obtained from different 
animals. Below is given analysis of cooked meat, which 
necessarily differs from that of fresh meat on account of 
the loss which occurs in cooking. 

Composition of Cooked (Roast) Meat, no Drippings 

Being Lost: 

Boiled meat assumed to be about the same. 

Nitrogenous matter 27.6 

Fat 15.45 

Saline matter 2.95 

Water 54 00 

100.00 



30 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

Beef is of a firmer texture and more satisfying to the 
stomach than mutton. Rightly or wrongly it is generally 
reputed as possessing also higher strengthening prop- 
erties. 

Composition of Lean Beef. 

Nitrogenous matter 19.3 

Fat 3.6 

Saline matter 5.1 

Water 72.00 

100.00 

Composition of Fat Beef. 

Nitrogenous matter 14.8 

Fat 29.8 

Saline matter 4.4 

Water 5 1 .00 

100.00 

Mutton appears to be more easy of digestion than 
beef. This is not, however, appreciable by a healthy 
person because the digestive power is in excess of what 
is required for the easy digestion of either when a 
proper amount only is consumed. In the dyspeptic, how- 
ever, where a nice balance may exist between the diges- 
tive power possessed and that required — where, in other 
words, the digestive power is only just sufficient for 
what is wanted, the usual experience is that mutton taxes 
the stomach less than beef. There are many, for instance, 
who find that while mutton can be eaten without exciting- 
discomfort, beef rests somewhat heavily upon the 
stomach if it do not actually disagree. 



a treatise on foods. 31 

Composition of Lean Mutton. 

Nitrogenous matter 18.3 

Fat 4.9 

Saline matter 4.8 

Water 72.00 

100.00 

Composition of Fat Mutton. 

Nitrogenous matter 12.4 

Fat 31. 1 

Saline matter 3.5 

Water 53. 00 

100.00 

Veal and Lamb. It has already been stated that these 
meats, although more tender, are more resistant to diges- 
tive action. They appear also to possess less strength- 
giving properties. It need scarcely be said that there is 
a deeply rooted belief that for sustaining the powers 
under great exertion these meats are not to be compared 
to beef and mutton. They are meats that it is desirable 
to avoid, generally speaking, in cases of dyspepsia. 

Composition of Veal. 

Nitrogenous matter 16.5 

Fat 15.8 

Saline matter 4.7 

Water 63.00 

100.00 

Pork is of all meats the most difficult to digest. It 
is rich and trying to the stomach on account of the large 



32 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

quantity of fat it contains. All fat meats contain a rel- 
atively smaller proportion of water than lean on account 
of fat not being infiltrated with fluid to the same extent 

as the other tissues. 

Composition of Fat Pork. 

Nitrogenous matter 9.8 

Fat 43-9 

Saline matter 2.3 

Water 39-Oo 

100.00 
Bacon. Cured meats generally are less digestible 
than the same meat in the fresh state. Bacon, however, 
occupies an exceptional position in this respect. Its fat, 
certainly, is less likely to disagree with the stomach than 
the fat o\ pork. It contains but a small proportion of 
water, and, therefore, weight for weight is an advanta- 
geous kind o\ \ood. It should not lose more than 10 to 
L5 per cent in cooking. 

Composition of Dried Bacon. 

Nitrogenous matter 8.8 

Fat 73-3 

Saline matter 2.9 

Water i5-°° 

1 00. 00 

Composition ov Green Bacon. 

Nitrogenous matter 7. 1 

Fat 66.S 

Saline matter 2. 1 

Water 24.00 

100.00 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 33 

Bone. The relative amount of bone in animals varies 
according to their condition. Taking the whole animal, 
20 per cent may be allowed. In lean animals it is in too 
large a relative proportion viewed in reference to 
economy. In the various joints it is rarely less than 8 
per cent, and in the shins and legs of beer it amounts to 
one-third or even more with reference to the total weight. 
The most economical parts are the round and thick flank, 
then the brisket, and, lastly the leg. In the case of mutton 
and pork, the leg is the most profitable, and then the 
shoulder. Bones contain some nutritive matter, both 
nitrogenous and fatty. To extract it the bones should be 
broken up into small pieces and boiled \<>r many hours. 
It requires seven pounds of bones to represent the equiva- 
lent of one pound of meat in nitrogen. Gelatin, which 
forms the basis of soup, is the nitrogenous principle ex- 
tracted by boiling from bones. 

Liver. The liver of many domestic animals is con- 
sumed as food. It is generally fried, and, thus prepared, 
forms a rich and savory dish. Its richness renders it an 
inappropriate food for a delicate stomach. 

Composition of Calf's Liver. 

Nitrogenous matter 20.10 

Fat 5.58 

Carbohydrate 0.45 

Saline matter 1.54 

Water 72.33 

100.00 

Kidney. The substance of the kidney is of a close, 
fleshy nature. It can never be looked upon as otherwise 
than an article of difficult digestibility, but as regards this 



34 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

quality a great deal depends upon its mode of cooking. 
When lightly cooked it is soft, juicy, and agreeably 
sapid, but cooked for some time, and with the employ- 
ment of a high temperature, it undergoes considerable 
contraction, and becomes hard, dry, comparatively taste- 
less, and exceedingly indigestible. The amount of fatty 
matter present is small. 

Composition of Sheep's Kidneys. 

Nitrogenous matter 17.250 

Fatty matter 2.125 

Saline matter 1.100 

Organic matter and loss I -3 2 5 

Water 78. 200 

1 00. coo 

Heart. The heart consists of fat and muscular tissue, 
like ordinary meat. The muscular tissue, however, is of 
a much closer texture and this gives the greater hard- 
ness which is well known to belong to. it both in the 
cooked and uncooked state. On account of the closeness 
of texture and hardness, it forms an indigestible article 
of food. 

Tripe. The tripe which is consumed as human food 
consists of the paunch or first portion of the ruminant 
stomach of the ox. This is the only instance of any part 
of the alimentary canal being applied to our own use, 
excepting in the case of the pig, where the chitterlings 
are cleansed and eaten. The muscular fibres belonging 
to tripe possess a different structure from those belong- 
ing to ordinary meat, and yield more readily to digestion. 
Tripe, indeed, is an easily digestible article of food, but 
the fat present renders it somewhat rich., 



a treatise on foods. 35 

Composition of Tripe. 

Nitrogenous matter 13.2 

Fat 16.4 

Saline matter 2.4 

Water 68.00 



100.00 



Unwholesome Meat. Meat cannot be subjected, like 
many alimentary articles, to adulteration or falsification, 
but it may be in an unwholesome state, and thereby unfit 
for food. Good meat, according to the best of author- 
ities, has the following characters : 

1st. It is neither of a pale pink color nor of a deep 
purple, for the former is a sign of disease, and the latter 
indicates that the animal has not been slaughtered, but 
has died with the blood in it, or has suffered from acute 
fever. 

2nd. It has a marbled appearance, from the rami- 
fications of little veins of fat among the muscles. 

3rd. It should be firm and elastic to the touch, and 
should scarcely moisten the fingers, bad meat being wet, 
and sodden, and flabby, with the fat looking like jelly. 

4th. It should have little or no odor, and the odor 
should not be disagreeable, for diseased meat has a sickly 
smell, and sometimes a smell of physic. This is very 
discoverable when the meat is chopped up and drenched 
with warm water. 

5th. It should not shrink or waste much in cooking. 

6th. It should not run to w r ater or become very wet 
on standing for a day or so, but should, on the contrary, 
be dry upon the surface. 



36 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

To this may be added that there should be no sign of 
the presence of parasites. The fat also should neither 
be deficient nor excessive. 

There is one form of parasite which is frequently met 
with, particularly in the case of the pig, here giving rise 
to what is known as "measly pork." It consists of a 
little animal possessing a tape-worm-like head with a 
bladder-like tail, from which its name cysticcnts is de- 
rived. It lies in the flesh surrounded by a cyst, which 
in the pig is about the size of a hemp seed, and thus is 
easily seen. The cysticerci of beef and veal are much 
smaller than those of pork, and require close inspection 
to discover them. When meat thus infested is eaten in 
the raw or imperfectly cooked state, it gives rise to the 
development of tapeworm in the alimentary canal. They 
can be killed by the meat being thoroughly well cooked 
throughout. 

There are various diseases of an acute infectious 
nature and malignant type, such, particularly, as rinder- 
pest, anthrax, and pleuropneumonia, to which animals 
are subject. Can the meat of animals that have been 
thus affected be eaten without producing injurious con- 
sequences? The idea of it is repulsive, and, strangely, 
the answer to the question cannot be given in such a 
manner as our notions might lead us to expect. The con- 
flicting opinions of various persons on this point show 
the amount of uncertainty that exists with regard to it. 

It has been suggested that the prevalence of boils and 
carbuncles may be attributable to the unconscious con- 
sumption of meat from diseased animals, and plenty of 
statistics have been adduced in support of this view. 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 37 

Looking* at the evidence before us regarding the effects 
of consuming meat derived from animals suffering from 
infectious disease, the conclusion is that some kind of 
subtle poison exists, and that this may become neutral- 
ized or destroyed by the processes of cooking and diges- 
tion, but why such an event should occur in some cases 
and not in others, is indeed difficult to understand. It is 
only right, however, to look upon all such meat as unsafe 
and unfit for human food. Tastes differ, as was shown 
by the Indian way of burying meat underground for 
months to putrefy, thus making for them a great delicacy. 
Fish. Fish is an important article of nourishment. 
A very large number of different kinds of it, both fresh- 
water and salt-water, are consumed, giving great variety 
to this kind of food. The amount that must exist in 
the vast waters of the oceans may also be regarded as 
rendering the supply inexhaustible. In some places it 
constitutes the whole sustenance of the people. The in- 
habitants of the most northern parts of Europe, Asia, 
and America, where it is too cold for any of the higher 
forms of vegetation to grow, are mainly dependent upon 
food of which the chief portion consists of fish derived 
from the sea. Although from time immemorial fish has 
formed an article of food, more or less consumed by most 
people, yet many prejudices used to exist with regard to 
it. The Egyptian priests were forbidden to eat fish of 
any kind, under the idea that it increased the sexual 
appetite, or that it was the cause of leprosy. For the 
latter reason the people were also forbidden to eat fish 
not covered with scales. In the writings of Moses it is 
stated : "Whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters. 



38 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

in the seas, and the rivers, them shall ye eat — Whatso- 
ever hath no fins or scales in the waters, that shall be an 
abomination unto ye." There does not appear to be any 
substantial foundation, however, for the belief that 
formerly prevailed, as the sturgeon — a fish without 
scales — is now extensively eaten. 

The flesh of some fish is white, and that of others 
more or less red. The former is less stimulating and 
lighter to the stomach or more easy of digestion than the 
latter. The flesh of these fish contain but little fat, as 
the following analysis will show. The fat existing in 
the animal is especially accumulated in the liver, and in 
the cod-fish particularly, when in season, the liver is 
enormously gorged with oil. 

Composition of White Fish. 

Nitrogenous matter 18. i 

Fat 2.9 

Saline matter 1.0 

Water 78.00 

100.00 

The flesh of salmon particularly presents a strong 
contrast in color to the white fish considered above. It 
approaches meat in redness, and is regarded as approach- 
ing it also more closely than other fish in sustaining 
properties. Fatty matter is incorporated with the muscu- 
lar fibres, and there is also a layer of superficial fat 
beneath the skin. This is more abundant in the abdomi- 
nal or thinner than in the dorsal or thicker part of the 
animal — hence the richer flavor, and thereby the prefer- 
ence given to the former for eating. 



a treatise on foods. 39 

Composition of Salmon. 

Nitrogenous matter 16. i 

Fat 5-5 

Saline matter 1.4 

Water 77.00 

100.00 

The mackerel, eel, herring, sprat, are other fish char- 
acterized by the presence of fatty matter incorporated 
with the flesh. Thus it is that these fish are richer and 
less suited to a delicate stomach than the white fish. The 
eel especially is rich in fat, as is shown by the follow- 
ing analysis : 

Composition of Eels. 

Nitrogenous matter 9.9 

Fat 13.8 

Saline matter 1.3 

Water 75. 00 

100.00 

Shell Fish. Shell fish are derived from both the 
crustacean and molluscous tribes of animals. They yield 
a less nutritive kind of food than that which has been 
already considered, but must nevertheless be looked upon 
as holding a position of considerable importance in an 
alimentary point of view. Shell fish, taken altogether, 
are more indigestible and apt to upset the stomach than 
other kinds of animal food. They frequently produce 
urgent symptoms of derangement. Sometimes the symp- 
toms are those of gastro-intestinal irritation, as, for 
instance, nausea, vomiting, colic, cramps, and purging. 



40 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

Sometimes an eruptive disorder of the skin, and more 
particularly nettle-rash, is induced. So strong, indeed, 
is the tendency in some for such affection of the skin to 
be developed, that it is found necessary to scrupulously 
exclude shell fish from the diet. 

The Crustaceans commonly eaten consist of the lob- 
ster, crab. crawfish, shrimp, and prawn. They are all 
_ irded as choice articles of food. The flesh belonging 
to them is white and firm. 

COMPOSl HON OF THE EDIBLE PORTIONS OF THE LOBSTER. 

Flesh Soft Intenal Spawn 
Substance 

Nitrogenous matter 10.170 ir.140 21 - 

Fatty matter 1.170 1-444 8*234 

Mineral matter 1.823 1.740 i.< - 

Non-nitrogenous matter and loss, 1.219 0.354 4-s 5 

Water 76.618 84.313 62 $3 

100.000 100.000 100.000 

The lobster occupies, a higiier position in public esti- 
mation than the crab. The flesh of the two is much 
alik^ the flavor is different, that of the lobster being 

the more delicate, and apparently the least likely to 
agree. The female or hen lobster, as it is called, is in 
al request for making sauce, for the sake of the 

iwn or eggs belonging to it. They arc attached 
beneath the tail, and consist of little round bodies. They 
are black in their natural state, but become a bright red 
on boiling. They are pounded and mixed with the sauce, 
and thus give it after boiling the desired red color, as 
well as some amount of flavor. There is another part 
within the animal which becomes of a bright red on 



A TREATISE ON POODS. 41 

boiling. This is called the coral. It consists of the 
ovary, and is generally used for garnishing. The flesh 
of the lobster is mainly found in the tail and claws. That 
of the claws is more tender, delicate, and digestible that! 
that of the tail, which is firmer and closer. 

Oysters. Oysters have always held a high rank 
amongst the lovers of good feeding. They are found on 
various parts oi the coast, and are caught by dredging, 
hut instead of being consumed at once they are trans- 
ferred to oyster beds in shallow waters for the purpose 
of being "fattened." Here they quickly undergo a 
marked increase in size, become more plump, and im- 
prove in flavor. Oysters are a nutritious kind of food. 
Different opinions, however, prevail regarding their 
digestibility. Seeing, though, how often they can be 
borne without inconvenience by a delicate stomach,- it 
may be concluded that they arc not difficult to dispose of, 
and especially when it is considered that from the manner 
in which they are usually eaten, viz., without being masti- 
cated, they are rarely swallowed in as favorable state 
for digestion as other kinds of food. By many the whole 
animal is eaten, while those who are dainty over them 
remove the outer fringed part or beard which constitutes 
the gills. Of the remainder there is a soft and a some- 
what hard portion. The former consists mainly of liver, 
which in this animal is a very bulky organ. The latter 
is composed of the adductor muscle, which served to 
connect the two shells together. It forms by far the most 
indigestible part of the oyster, and should be carefully 
rejected where any weakness of stomach exists.- Oysters 
are more digestible in the raw than in the cooked state. 



4: 



A TRKAT1SK ON FOODS. 



Cooking", whether by grilling, scalloping', or stewing. 
coagulates and hardens them, and thereby renders them 
more difficult of solution in the stomach. 

Composition of Oysters. 

Nitrogenous matter 1 4.010 

Fatty matter 1.513 

Saline matter 2.695 

Non-nitrogenous matter and loss. 1.395 

Watei 80, ;S> 



1 00 . 000 
sete. Musse - gely, Hiey 

subjected to a prepai cess ' c toking, usu 

hv stewing in their own liquor. There Is a little tongue- 
like, hardish, dark-colored mass belonging- to them, which 
is generally picked out, under the SUpp - . thai it is 

to use as food. 

Composition of Mussels, 



Nitrogenous matter 1 

Fatty matter 

Saline matter 

X on -nitrogenous matter and loss 

Water 



4- 

39 

74 



100 00 



EGGS. 



Eggs necessarily c titain all thai is required ; r the 

construction the body, as the young annual is de- 
veloped from it, ' as ..1 >Ul acre: >fore, the - 
must be take account a- well as its contents. Dui 



A TKKATISK ON POODS. 43 

the process of incubation, in fact, the earthy matter of 
the shell becomes gradually dissolved and applied to the 
purposes of growth. Phosphoric acid, formed by the 
gradual oxidation of phosphorus, constitutes the solvent 
agent, and the shell is found to become progressively 
thinner and thinner, until at last it should be no thicker 
than a sheet of letter paper. Various eggs are eaten, in- 
cluding those of reptiles as, for instance, the turtle — -as 
well as birds; but it is especially the egg" of the fowl 
which is employed as a general article of food, and to 
this the succeeding remarks are intended to refer. 

Composition of the Entire Contents or- the Egg. 

Nitrogenous matter 14.0 

Fatty matter 10.5 

Saline matter 1.5 

Water 74.00 

100.00 

Composition of the White of Egg. 

Nitrogenous matter 20.4 

Fatty matter 

Saline matter 1.6 

Water 78 00 

100 00 
Composition of the Yolk of Egg. 

Nitrogenous matter 16.0 

Fatty matter 30.7 

Saline matter 1.3 

Water 52.00 

100.00 



44 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

The white of the egg, as shown by the above analysis, 
contains a considerably larger proportion of water than 
the yolk. It contains no fatty matter, but consists mainly 
of albumen in a dissolved state, and inclosed within very 
thin-walled cells. It is this arrangement which gives to 
the white of egg its ropy, gelatinous state. Thoroughly 
shaking or beating it up with water breaks the cells and 
removes the ropy state. 

The yolk of the egg forms a kind of yellow emulsion. 
All fatty matter of the egg is accumulated in this portion 
of it, and it here amounts to as much as thirty (30) per 
cent. The fat is held in suspension or emulsified by the 
aluminous matter of the yolk, which constitutes a slight 
modification of that of the white, and is called vitellin. 
The yolk contains relatively a less proportion of nitrog- 
enous matter than the white. The proportion of solid 
matter, on account of the fat, is considerably greater. 
An enveloping membrane or bag surrounds the yolk, and 
keeps the fluid matter, of which it is composed, together. 
Being lighter than the white, it floats to that portion of 
the egg which is uppermost, but is kept in position 
between the two extremities by two processes of inspis- 
sated albumen, called chalazae, which pass and are at- 
tached — one to either end of the egg. The quality of 
eggs varies according to the food upon which the fowl 
is kept. Certain articles of food communicate a distinct 
flavor to the egg. 

In an alimentary point of view, therefore, the white 
and yolk differ markedly from each other, the one being 
mainly a simple solution of albumen, the other a solution 
of a modified form of albumen associated with a consid- 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 45 

erable quantity of fat. Reckoning the weight of an egg 
at two ounces, and that one-tenth of this consists of shell 
the contents will furnish the following amounts of dry 
constituents, the percentage composition given above 
being taken as the basis of calculation : 

Dry Constituents of the Contents of an Egg. 

Nitrogenous matter no grains 

Fatty matter 82 " 

Saline matter n " 

Total solid matter 203 " 

Raw and lightly boiled eggs are easy of digestion. 
The hard boiled egg offers considerable resistance to 
gastric solution, and exerts a constipating action on the 
bowels. The egg" changes by keeping, and certain de- 
vices are practiced to preserve its freshness. The shell, 
being porous, allows of the evaporation of fluid, and air 
accumulates in its place at one of the extremities. Thus, 
an egg under exposure to the air loses weight from day 
to day, and the diminution in density indicates the length 
of time it has been kept. For example, a solution of salt 
in the proportion of about ten per cent — that is, one 
ounce of salt in ten ounces of water, — will just allow a 
fresh egg to sink, while one which has been kept several 
days will swim. Bad eggs become sufficiently light to 
float even in pure water. 

The air which finds its way through the pores of the 
shell into the egg causes gradual decomposition, until 
ultimately a state of putrescence is attained. With the 
view of excluding the air eggs are sometimes placed in 
lime water, and other heavy solutions. The shell is also 



46 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

sometimes covered with a layer of lard, wax and oil or 
some other kind of fatty matter, and sometimes with a 
gum. By packing in bran, salt, or some such material, 
they keep long-er than they otherwise would do, but it 
must be remembered that eggs easily acquire a taste from 
that which surrounds them. Immersed for some hours 
in a solution of salt, some of the saline matter penetrates 
and tends to preserve the egg under subsequent exposure 
to the air. 

Fresh eggs are usually known by their translucency 
when held up to the light. . By keeping they become 
cloudy, and when decidedly stale a distinct, dark, cloud- 
like appearance is discernable opposite some portion of 
the shell. Egg testers are cheap and usually made to fit 
an ordinary lamp chimney. Eggs are sometimes noticed 
to break spontaneously on being boiled. This occurs 
when the egg is suddenly immersed in a largish quantity 
of boiling water. The sudden expansion of the contents 
produced by the heat causes the shell to give way. Im- 
mersed in a small quantity of water only, the temperature 
is lowered sufficiently to prevent any immediate extensive, 
expansion, and then with the subsequent gradual eleva- 
tion of the temperature, time is given for a little fluid to 
be forced through the pores of the shell from the pressure 
within, and, perhaps, for the shell itself to undergo some 
expansion. A stale egg is less likely to become broken 
in this way than a fresh one, on account of the air which 
has replaced the evaporated fluid admitting easily of 
compression. 

Egg Shells. In the Materia Medica of the Homeop- 
athic school of medicine, the egg shell, known as ova 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 47 

testa, is triturated with sugar of milk and made into 
powders and tablets for the relief of certain disorders of 
a functional nature. 

The up-to-date doctor of medicine with a full and 
complete analysis of eg'g-yolk substances says thus : 

Brain-matter; Egg-yolk, and Seminal, fluid consist of: 

Water, 

Fats, 

Protagon, 

Cholesterin, 

Nuclein, 

Cerebrin, 

Lecithin, 

Minerals. 

Also, says this up-to-date gentleman, egg-yellow contains 
an albuminoid called "vitellin," which is closely related 
to the albuminoid of blood (globulin) ; and contains also 
a ferruginous nuclein called "hematogen" (blood pro- 
ducing) discovered by Professor Bunge, of Germany. 
Its other constituents are protagon, lecithin, fats, choles- 
terin, cerebrin, and phosphates, in which it is rich; also 
sulphates and traces of iron. 

The chemical constitution of generative substance is 
also represented by albuminoids, lecithin, cerebrin, chlo- 
esterin, fats, phosphates and sulphates. And, besides, 
the relative proportions of the constituents of the fore- 
going substances are respectively very similar, only that 
the brain and tgg yolk are richer in fats and the other in 
phosphorized proteids. 

Therefore, eggs constitute the best and brainiest food 
for father and mother and child before and after con- 
ception and birth. 



48 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

MILK. 

Milk, an article furnished and intended by nature as 
the sole food for the young* of a certain class of animals, 
necessarily contains, like eggs, all the elements that are 
required for the growth and maintenance of the body. 
Holding" the position it does, it may be justly regarded 
as the type of an alimentary substance. 

Good milk is a homogeneous opaquely white or very 
faintly buff-tinted liquid, which is entirely free from any 
viscidity, and undergoes no change on being heated. It 
has a sweet taste, and a slightly perceptible agreeable 
odor. Its reaction is almost neutral instead of tending 
either towards acid or alkaline, when in a natural state 
and at the moment of removal. A little later an acid 
character becomes perceptible, and is evidently due to the 
effect of change after removal. Its density varies, but, 
1030 may be looked upon as about the average in the case 
of cow's milk. Although appearing homogeneous to 
the naked eye, it in reality consists, as is shown by micro- 
scopic examination, of a clear liquid holding in suspen- 
sion a multitude of little particles or globules, which con- 
stitute the cause of its opacity. These globules are of a 
fatty nature, and, being lighter than the surrounding- 
liquid, gradually rise to the surface, and form the cream 
which collects at the top of milk that is allowed to re- 
pose. The ingredients of milk consist of: 

Nitrogenous matter, 

Fatty matter, 

Lactin, or sugar of milk, 

Mineral matter and 

Water. 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 49 

The nitrogenous matter is chiefly composed of casein, 
a principle which, unlike albumen, is not coagulated by 
heat, but is coagulable by acids, organic as well as min- 
eral, and also by the neutral organic substance obtainable 
from the stomach, familiar to everyone as pepsin, which 
forms the active principle of rennet. It is casein which 
constitutes curd and the basis of cheese. It is thrown 
down, carrying with it in an entangled state the sus- 
pended fatty globules, not only by the addition of the 
agents mentioned, but as a result of the spontaneous 
change which milk undergoes upon exposure to the air. 
The cause of this spontaneous coagulation is the develop- 
ment of lactic acid by a fermentative transformation of 
the lactin. As is well known warmth greatly favors this 
change, and it does so to such an extent that during the 
hot weather of summer milk very quickly passes into a 
coagulated or curdled state. Contact with the smallest 
quantity of milk that has undergone the change also 
rapidly induces curdling throughout the whole bulk. 
Hence arises the necessity, as has been found by ex- 
perience, of exercising the most scrupulous care in secur- 
ing the utmost cleanliness of vessels used for the purpose 
of storage. It may further be mentioned that at the 
commencement of the change an amount of lactic acid 
may have been generated insufficient to curdle the milk 
at the ordinary temperature, but sufficient to do so at a 
greater heat, because the action of the acid is then more 
energetic. This accounts for the circumstance frequently 
noticed in the home, that milk may be liquid, and ap- 
parently fresh, at the ordinary temperature, and yet shall 
curdle upon being boiled. 



50 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

Besides casein, milk contains a little albumen, and a 
third nitrogeneous principle in small amount, which has 
been named lactoprotein. 

The fatty matter constitutes butter. While existing 
in the milk it is suspended, as has been already men- 
tioned, under the form of microscopic globules. These 
globules appear to be surrounded by an envelope of 
casein or albuminoid matter, which becomes broken in 
the process of churning for the production of butter, so 
allowing the incorporation of the fatty matter to occur. 
It is seemingly on account of this envelope that ether 
fails to dissolve out the fat when simply shaken up with 
milk; for if a small quantity of an alkali, as for instance 
potash, which may be presumed to dissolve the envelopes, 
be previously added, then ether immediately takes up the 
fat, leaving a clear watery liquid, consisting of the casein, 
etc., lactin, and salts. 

Lactiu forms one of the varieties of sugar, and re- 
mains dissolved in the liquid from which both the curd 
and butter may have been separated. It has a less sweet 
taste, and is less soluable in water than ordinary sugar, 
is nearly insoluable in alcohol and ether, readily crystal- 
lizes, and reduces the cupro-potassic solution like grape 
sugar, but is not directly susceptible of alcoholic fer- 
mentation. Alone it forms a staple compound, but in 
contact with decomposing nitrogenous matter it under- 
goes conversion into lactic acid, which accounts for the 
sourness that milk acquires on keeping. 

The mineral matter and water comprise the inorganic 
principles required for the purposes of life. 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 51 

According to competent analyses, cow's milk con- 
tains 14 per cent of solid matter, which is distributed as 
follows : 

Composition of Cow's Milk. 

Nitrogenous matter 4. 1 

Fatty matter 3.9 

Lactin 5.2 

Saline matter 0.8 

Water 86.00 

100.00 
One pint of milk of the above composition, reckoned 
at a sp. gr. of 1030, which will give 9012 grains as its 
weight, will contain the following amounts of the several 
solid constituents, represented in grains and ounces : 

Solid Constituents in One Pint of Milk. 

Grains Ounces 

Nitrogenous matter 369 0.843 

Fatty matter 351 0.802 

Lactin 468 1.069 

Saline matter 72 0.164 

Total solid matter, 1.260 2.878 

The milk of the cow most closely approximates to 
that of woman, but it is rather more highly charged 
with each kind of solid constituent. Next follows the 
milk of the goat, which, taken altogether, is again rather 
richer. That of the sheep is characterized by its marked 
richness in nitrogenous matter and butter. The milk 
of the ass and mare presents a striking difference from 
the rest. The peculiarity consists of the small amounts 
of nitrogenous matter and butter, and the large amount 



52 A TRKATISK ON FOODS. 

of lactin or sugar. The milk of the mare forms the 
higher representative of this peculiarity of the two, and 
so large is the amount of sugar contained in it that in 
Tartary it is fermented and converted into a spirituous 
liquor which is known by the name of koumiss. Asses' 
milk is well known to form a most useful aliment for 
persons too delicate in health to bear cow's milk. Its 
prominent characters as an article of food are sweetness 
of taste and facility of digestion. It is said, however, to' 
have the objection of being sometimes apt to occasion 
diarrhoea. 

With reference to the casein, it is stated that the 
coagulum or curd of woman's milk is "in general some- 
what gelatinous, and not so dense or solid as that of 
cow's milk, and, therefore, more easily digested by the 
child's stomach." 

Evidence is not wanting to show, as might be antici- 
pated, that the quality of the milk is influenced by the 
nature of the food. It has been clearly ascertained that 
an insufficient diet quickly leads to an impoverishment in 
solid material. It is nothing more than might be ex- 
pected that to maintain the milk in good condition, a 
proper and sufficient diet must be supplied; and in the 
case of the cow, no food is considered equal to that 
which is yielded by the fresh pasture of country fields, 
the plants of which give a richness, sweetness, and agree- 
able aroma, which cannot be supplied by any other mode 
of feeding. 

There are certain products and modifications of milk, 
as cream, skimmed milk, buttermilk, curds, whey, butter 
and cheese, which now require consideration. 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. S3 

Cream. Cream consists mainly of the fatty matter 
of milk, which, by virtue of its lightness, rises to the 
surface, the milk being allowed to repose for some time 
for the purpose. It contains some of the watery liquid 
part of the milk which holds in solution the other con- 
stituents. The composition of cream will necessarily vary 
a great deal according to its purity. 

Composition of Cream. 

Nitrogenous matter 2.7 

Fatty matter 26.7 

Lectin 2. 8 

Saline matter 1.8 

Water 66.00 



100.00 

Skimmed Milk is the residue of milk from which 
cream has been collected. It is simply milk deprived of 
a certain amount of its fatty constituent. Being less 
rich than ordinary milk, it sometimes forms a useful 
aliment for a weak stomach. 

Composition of Skimmed Milk. 

Nitrogenous matter 4.0 

Fatty matter 1.8 

Lactin 5.4 

Saline matter 0.8 

Water 88.00 



100.00 
Buttermilk. When butter is prepared directly from 
milk a thin residuary liquid is yielded, which is known 
by the name of buttermilk. It contains a less amount of 



54 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

fatty matter than skimmed milk. Mixed with other 
food it is by no means an insignificant article of nourish- 
ment, containing as it does, the nitrogenous matter, 
sugar, saline matter, and a small portion of the fatty 
matter of the milk. 

Composition of Buttermilk. 

Nitrogenous matter 4. 1 

Fatty matter 0.7 

Lactin 6.4 

Saline matter 0.8 

Water 88.00 



100.00 



Curd. The essential basis of curd is casein; but, as 
this principle undergoes coagulation during the trans- 
formation of milk into curds and whey, it entangles and 
carries with it the suspended milk globules. Curd, there- 
fore, consists of the nitrogenous portion of milk mixed 
with the chief part of its fatty element. It constitutes 
the basis of cheese. 

Whey. This forms the opalescent liquid left from 
the separation of the curd; it contains the lactin and 
salts of the milk, and likewise retains a little casein and 
fatty matter. It is of some value but not much, in an 
alimentary point of view. 

BUTTER. 

Butter is the fatty portion of milk, and is obtained by 
the process of churning, either cream or the milk itself 
being subjected to the operation. The effect of churn- 
ing is to cause the milk globules to run together or 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 55 

coalesce, and thus to become incorporated into a solid 
mass. This is supposed to be brought about by the 
mechanical rupture, in the first place, of the envelopes of 
the globules, the contents of which are then permitted to 
become agglomerated ; and, it is found by experience that 
the process is facilitated by being conducted at a temper- 
ature of about sixty degrees Fahrenheit. When the 
butter is formed it is removed from the churn and well 
kneaded and washed with water, to remove as much as 
possible of adhering casein and other ingredients of the 
milk, and the more completely this is effected the better 
will the butter afterwards keep. More or less salt is 
added to promote still further its power of keeping, and 
to suit the different tastes of its consumers. 

The pure fatty matter of butter is composed of a 
mixture of several fatty principles. Six of them are 
enumerated below: 

Margarin, 

Olein, 

Caprylin, 

Butyrin, 

Caprin, 

Caproin. 

These are neutral fats, and are resolvable into 
glycerin and margaric, oleic, caprylic, butyric, capric, 
and caproic acids respectively: the first two acids being 
of a fixed, and the last four of a volatile nature. It is 
to the latter agents that the characteristic taste and smell 
of butter are due, although they are present only in small 
amount. 

Fresh butter, especially in hot weather, is very prone 
to undergo change, and in the course of a short time to 



56 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

become rancid. This arises from the nitrogenous matter 
of the milk with which the butter is impregnated acting 
as a ferment, and leading to the liberation of the fatty 
acids. The more completely butter is deprived of this 
adventitious matter by washing, the better is it found 
afterwards to keep. Butter is a form of fatty matter less 
likely than most others to disagree with the stomach. 
This applies to butter in a perfectly fresh or unchanged 
state: when rancid it is very likely to occasion gastric 
derangement. 

Cheese consists of the casein of milk with a varying 
admixture of butter, according to the manner in which 
it has been prepared. The casein is coagulated usually 
by the employment of rennet, but sometimes by the 
agency of an acid. In being precipitated the casein en- 
tangles and carries with it the suspended fat-globules 
(butter) of the milk. After coagulation has been effected 
the curd is collected and subjected to pressure in moulds, 
to deprive it. as far as possible, of the liquid portion of 
the milk, or whey. Fatty matter gives softness and rich- 
ness to cheese, but. at the same time, renders it more 
prone to change and decay on keeping-. It is the poor 
and close cheese, such as is made from skimmed milk, 
which is found to keep the best. 

Composition of Cheese. 

Nitrogenous matter 33.5 

Fatty matter 24.3 

Saline matter 5.4 

Water 36. So 

100.00 



a treatise on foods. 57 

Composition of Skim Cheese. 

Nitrogenous matter 44.8 

Fatty matter 6.3 

Saline matter 4.9 

Water 44.00 

100.00 

On account of its richness in nitrogenous matter 
cheese constitutes an article of considerable dietetic 
value. Amongst the poorer inhabitants of rural districts 
it enters as an important aliment into the daily diet, serv- 
ing to supply the nitrogen which is deficient in the bread 
or other kind of vegetable food which is employed as 
the staple article of subsistence. 

Vegetable Alimentary Substances. 

Although vegetable substances differ so much phy- 
sicially, and in some respects, also, chemically, from the 
components of animal beings, they are susceptible of con- 
version into those components, and, alone, contain all 
that is absolutely requisite for the support of animal life. 
A more complex elaborating system, however, is re- 
quired to fit them for appropriation than is the case with 
animal substances, and accordingly it is found that the 
digestive organs of the herbivora are developed upon a 
larger and higher scale than these of the carnivora. 

The vegetable products that form even common 
articles of food are exceedingly varied and numerous. 
To attempt to arrange them under any strict classification 
would only lead to embarrassment, and often involve 
practical inconvenience. It will be sufficient for the pur- 



58 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

poses of description to distribute them into the follow- 
ing general groups : 

Farinaceous seeds, 
Oleaginous seeds, 
Tubers and roots, 
Herbaceous articles, 
Saccharine and 
Farinaceous preparations. 

Farinaceous Seeds. 

These rank first in importance amongst vegetable 
alimentary products. They are alike plentifully yielded, 
of easy digestion, and of high nutritive value. It is not 
surprising, therefore, to find that the farinaceous seeds 
form the largest and most widely consumed portion of 
our vegetable food. Of the farinaceous seeds, those as 
wheat, oats, barley, rye, rice, corn, etc., derived from 
the cerealia — a tribe of grasses, take the first place as 
articles of food; and next follow those derived from 
the leguminosoe, or pulse tribe, as, for instance, peas, 
beans, and lentils. Some other farinaceous seeds will be 
mentioned as employed, but they are of far less signifi- 
cance in an alimentary point of view. 

The Cerealia. 

The various cereal grains agree in their general com- 
position, but differences exist in the relative amounts of 
the constituent principles, which give them different de- 
grees of alimentary value. 

The principles enumerated are : 

1st. Nitrogenous compounds, consisting of gluten, 
albumen, casein, and fibrin, with an active principle, 
chiefly encountered in the cortical part of the grain, 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 59 

which, like diastase, possesses the power of converting 
starch into sugar. The material known as gluten, as 
will be more particularly mentioned further on, com- 
prises a mixture of gluten, casein, and fibrin. 

2nd. Non-nitrogenous substances, as starch, dex- 
trin, sugar, and cellulose. 

3rd. Fatty matter, including a volatile oil, which 
constitutes the source of the odorous quality possessed 
by the grain. 

4th. Mineral substances, comprising phosphates of 
lime and magnesia, salts of potash and soda, and silica. 

Oats are rich in nitrogenous matter, fat, and salts. 
Corn contains a fair amount of nitrogenous matter, but 
is poor in salts. Corn further stands out from all the 
rest by virtue of the large amount of fatty matter present. 
Barley occupies a mean position with reference to all the 
constituents. Rice is characterized by richness in starch, 
and poorness in nitrogenous matter, fatty matter and 
salts. The knowledge thus supplied is of considerable 
value in relation to the employment of the several kinds 
of grain as articles of food. 

WHEAT. 

Wheat may be said to form the most useful article of 
the vegetable foods, and hence it is one of the most ex- 
tensively and widely cultivated of the cereal grains As 
supplied for use, wheat consists of the grain deprived of 
the husk with which it was originally invested. Each 
grain is composed of a hard, colored, tegumentary por- 
tion, and a central, easily pulverizable, white substance, 
which yields the product constituting flour. 



60 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

The teg'umentary portion consists, externally, of an 
exceedingly hard layer, which is of a dense, ligneous 
nature, and so coherent that it presents itself under the 
form of scales when wheat is subjected to the ordinary 
process of grinding. This constitutes the greater bulk 
of bran. The central white portion of the grain is 
chiefly composed of starch ; but nitrogenous, fatty, and 
saline matters are all present also, to some extent. The 
nitrogenous matter consists of several principles. There 
is albumen, mucin or casein, fibrin, and glutin. What is 
called gluten — the ductile, tenacious, raw material left 
when flour is kneaded with water, and afterwards washed 
to remove the starch — does not represent a simple or pure 
nitrogenous principle. The albumen of the flour is not 
present in it. This latter principle, being soluble in water, 
is carried away with the starch in the process of washing. 
It has often been said that the external part of the grain 
is richer than the central in nitrogenous matter. This 
remark, however, is not to be taken as applying to gluten. 
Gluten, indeed, preponderates in the central farinaceous 
part, the nitrogenous matter of the exterior being prin- 
cipally composed of vegetable fibrin. It is to gluten — 
and this exists to a special extent in wheat — that wheaten 
flour owes its aptitude for being made into bread. This 
substance, by virtue of its tenacity, and its susceptibility 
of solidification by heat, is capable of entangling gas 
generated or incorporated amongst it, and then becoming 
fixed in such a manner as to furnish a light, spongy, or 
porous article, like well-made bread. 

Medium wheat usually yields from 7:2 to 80 per cent 
of good flour, and from 5 to 10 per cent of bran. Below 
are two analvses of flour which differ a trifle : 



a treatise on foods. 61 

Composition of Flour. 

Nitrogenous matter 10.8 14-45 

Carbohydrates 70.5 68.48 

Fatty matter 2.0 1.25 

Mineral matter 1.7 1.60 

Water 15.00 14.22 

100.00 100.00 

The amount of gluten in wheaten flour ranges from 
8 to 15 per cent, the average being about 11 per cent. 

Bread. Of all the articles of vegetable food, bread 
must be considered as the most important to us. It con- 
stitutes a product of art, and amongst all civilized people 
the process of manufacture is known and put into prac- 
tice, evidently on account of the favorable state in which 
the elements of food are placed for undergoing digestion. 
It is only from some kinds of grain that bread can be 
made, and no bread is equal to that prepared from 
wheaten flour. The amount of gluten present, for which 
this kind of grain is distinguished, gives it the property 
for yielding a light and spongy form of bread ; and it is 
to this lightness or sponginess that bread owes its easy 
digestibility; for, according to its porosity, so is the facil- 
ity with which it is penetrated and acted upon by the 
secretion of the stomach. The first requisite towards the 
manufacture of bread is that the grain should be reduced 
to a pulverized condition. By the ordinary process it is 
ground in a whole state and converted into meal. This 
may be used for making bread — as is the case in what we 
call "brown bread" — but, as a rule, the flour is separated, 
and this only employed. 



62 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

Bread is a firm and porous substance, which is easy of 
mastication and which, while preserving a certain amount 
of moisture, is not wet or clammy. To convert flour or 
meal into a substance of this kind constitutes the art of 
bread-making-. A paste or dough is made by manipu- 
lation, either by kneading with the hands or by machinery, 
with the requisite quantity of water. Porosity is given 
by intimate incorporation with carbonic acid gas — either 
generated within, as by fermentation, or the use of one 
or other form of "baking powder;" or may be supplied 
from without by another process. The gluten present, 
by virtue of its tenacity, holds the vesicles of gas and 
allows a spongy mass to be formed. While in this state, 
solidification is effected by the aid of heat applied in the 
process of baking, and thus is formed a permanently 
vesiculated or porous article. Such in a few words con- 
stitutes the rationale of the process of bread-making. 

The usual practice in making bread by fermentation 
is to mix a certain quantity of the flour with the ferment, 
some salt, and lukewarm water. These are kneaded into 
a stiff paste or dough, which is placed aside in a warm 
situation for some hours usually. The mass gradually 
swells up, from the evolution of carbonic acid gas, or, 
as it is generally termed "the sponge rises." When the 
sponge is in active fermentation it is thoroughly kneaded 
with the remainder of the flour, salt, and water, and 
again set aside for a time in a warm situation. Fermen- 
tation extends throughout the whole, and at the proper 
moment the dough is made into loaves and introduced 
into the oven. Herein constitutes one of the chief points 
in the baker's art. Unless fermentation has been allowed 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 63 

to proceed far enough, a heavy loaf is the result; and if 
allowed to proceed too far, an objectionable quality of 
bread is the result, caused by the commencement of 
further fermentation. Time also must not be allowed 
for the loaves to sink before being baked. Under the in- 
fluence of the heat of the oven an expansion of the en- 
tangled vesicles of gas ensues, and occasions a consid- 
erable further rising of the dough ; and, with the sub- 
sequent setting of the substance of the loaf a permanently 
vesiculated mass is formed. 

In average practice, 100 pounds of flour will make 
about 140 pounds of bread. The art of the baker, how- 
ever, is to increase this quantity, and he does it by hard- 
ening the gluten through the agency of a little alum, or 
by means of a gummy mixture of boiled rice, three or 
four pounds of which, when boiled for two or three hours 
in as many gallons of water, make a sack of flour yield 
far more than it otherwise should. An evaporation of 
water occurs, and causes bread to lose weight on keep- 
ing. The loss proceeds most actively while hot from the 
oven. 

Composition of Bread. 

Nitrogenous matter 8.1 

Carbohydrates 51.0 

Fat matter 1.6 

Mineral matter 2.3 

Water 37-oo 

100.00 
Biscuits. Biscuits are a useful wheaten product, on 
account of their property of keeping, which is owing to 



64 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

their being dried as well as baked. Some biscuits are 
made from flour and water only, or flour, water, and a 
very little butter to diminish the hard and flinty char- 
acter which they otherwise possess. Other biscuits are 
made with the addition of milk, and some with the ad- 
dition of sugar also; and lightness may be given either by 
a baking powder or the carbonate of ammonia, which, 
being a volatile salt, is dissipated with the heat of the 
oven, and in escaping raises the dough. There are also 
various fancy biscuits, each kind containing, in addition 
to the ordinary ingredients, some special article. Plain 
biscuits constitute an easily digestible form of food. Stale 
biscuits, on being moistened and rebaked, are restored, as 
is stale bread, to nearly the condition of new. 

Composition of Biscuits. 

Nitrogenous matter 1 5. 6 

Carbohydrates 73.4 

Fatty matter 1.3 

Mineral matter 1.7 

Water 8.00 



100.00 
OATS. 

The common oat is derived from the avena saliva. A 
considerable number of varieties of the plant are culti- 
vated, yielding oats, which may be arranged under the 
two heads of white oats, and red, dun, or black oats. 
As met with in commerce, oats consist of the seeds in- 
closed in their husks. The husk amounts to nearly thirty 
(30) per cent, the remainder comprises the kernel of 
the seed. Oatmeal constitutes the product of grinding 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 65 

the kiln-dried seeds, deprived of their husk, or outer 
skin. It is not so white as wheaten flour, and its taste 
is peculiar. 

Composition of Oatmeal. 

Nitrogenous matter 12.6 

Carbohydrates 63.8 

Fatty matter 5.6 

Saline matter 3.0 

Water 15.00 

100.00 
Composition of Dried Oats. 

Nitrogenous matter J4-39 

Starch 60.59 

Dextrin, etc 9.25 

Fatty matter 5.50 

Cellulose 7.06 

Mineral matter 3.25 

100.00 

The nitrogenous matter of the oat is formed chiefly 
of a principle allied to casein, called avenin. On account 
of the absence of gluten, oatmeal cannot be vesiculated 
and made into bread, like wheaten flour. It is devoid of 
the tenacity of adhesiveness which is requisite to hold 
the vesicles of gas and give porosity or lightness to the 
mass. It is, however, made into thin cakes, by mixing 
into a paste with water, and then baking on an iron plate. 

Oats form an important and valuable article of food. 
With a proportion of nitrogenous matter which bears a 
favorable comparison with that of wheat, they stand next 
to corn amongst the cultivated cereals in the amount of 



66 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

fatty matter present. The percentage of saline matter 
is also high. 

BARLEY. 

Barley is obtained from several species of hordeuui, 
the favorite being hordeum disticJwn, or common summer 
barley, of which several varieties are cultivated. It is 
met with in commerce as a grain, inclosed in the husk. 
The product, when whole grain is ground, forms barley 
meal. 

Composition of Barley Meal. 

Nitrogenous matter 6.3 

Carbohydrates 74.3 

Fatty matter 2.4 

Saline matter 2.0 

Water 15-00 

100.00 

The nitrogenous matter of barley exists under the 
form of albumen and casein. There is little or no gluten, 
and hence, like oatmeal, it cannot be made into a vesicu- 
lated bread. Barley bread is, therefore, usually made by 
mixing wheaten flour with the meal. 

Malt is the product yielded when barley has been 
allowed to germinate, and the germination has been 
stopped at a certain point by subjecting the grain to heat 
on a kiln. As a result of the process, a peculiar active 
nitrogenous principle, called diastase, is developed, which 
has the power of effecting the conversion of starch into 
dextrin and sugar; and through this, malt differs from 
barley in a portion of the starch being represented by 
sugar. Malt infused in hot water yields Sweet- wort, 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 67 



which is rich in saccharine matter. Phis is used for 
making B 
for cattle. 



making Beer. Malt is also used to some extent as a food 



RYE. 

The common rye, or secale cereale, is extensively cul- 
tivated. It is of a hardy nature, and is usually sown in 
ground where the soil is too poor for wheat to grow. 
The lightest of sandy soils will produce fair returns in 
rye and rye straw, even though not fertilized. 

In external appearance the rye grain presents a closer 
resemblance to wheat than any of the other cereals. It 
is, however, darker in color and smaller in size. In the 
center the grain is white and farinaceous, but towards 
the exterior it is brownish. As met with in commerce, it 
is deprived of the husk, as in the case of wheat. It is 
ground and used under the form of rye-meal. 

Composition of Rye Meal. 

Nitrogenous matter 8.0 

Carbohydrates 73.2 

Fatty matter 2.0 

Saline matter 1.8 

Water i5-oo 

100.00 

Composition of Dried Rye. 

Nitrogenous matter 12.50 

Starch 64.65 

Dextrin, etc. H-90 

Fatty matter 2.25 

Cellulose 3. 10 

Mineral matter 2.60 

100.00 



68 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

The nitrogenous matter of the rye consists of fibrin, 

gluten, and albumen. From the nature of its nitrogenous 
matter, rye approaches reaver to wheat than the other 
cereal gTains in the aptitude of its flour for making a 
vesiculated ' rea Rye bread is c nsi leral U I a si 

'. in Belgium, Holland, Prussia, German)' and Russia 
Rye bread tails but little short of wheaten bread in 
nutritive value, [ts rand. LSte, however, render 

it no: I the Liking se who are unaccusl m< I it 

as at times .. laxative action. Rye is used for n 
and by distillers. 

cereals arc sul jecl bee me the sea: of growth 
of parasitic Fungus, which gives to the grain deleter 
properties: and. of all i n, rye is the mosl prone : i 

:ked in this way. The affected grain underg es 
devel tent, so as tc project c ably beyond the 

husk, and : upwards of four times its s 

ite. On account of this excessive 
growth, it can be - by sifting from the inl- 

and, unless this is done to an erg 
crop, sei - ns< uences ma m its consump- 

tion as f is nes tants 

- of the Old World have beer 

with fatal illness from this cause. Two classes of symp- 

ms are produced, denominated the ve and g 

s forms of In the one. the phenomena 

s - of weariness, giddiness, contraction of the 

muscles of the extremeties, Eormication, dimness of sigl . 

ss ; sensibility, voracious appetite, yellow countenance. 

and convulsions, followed by : in the other, there 

is also formication, that is, a feeling as if insects were 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. <> ( > 

creeping over the skin, and voracious appetite, and with 
this there occur coldness and insensibility of the ex- 
tremities, followed by gangrene. A fluid extract of 
ergot is extensively used by physicians. 

CORN. 

The common maize, or corn, is a native of tropical 
America, and is now extensively cultivated in many other 
countries the world over. The grains of corn are 
variously colored, but those most commonly met with are 
yellow. The ears when nearly full-grown are a favorite 
delicacy, when they are boiled and the grain eaten with 
salt and butter. 

A small variety of corn, with translucent and deeply 
colored grains is known as pop corn. This possesses the 
property, when gently roasted, of bursting, turning- inside 
out, and swelling to many times the original size, in which 
condition it is eaten with a little salt, or dipped in a sweet 
solution. 

Maize or corn meal is not adapted for making bread, 
on account of its deficiency in gluten, without the ad- 
mixture of wheaten or rye flour. The common brown 
bread of New England is made from a mixture of rye 
and corn meal. Used alone, corn meal, like oatmeal and 
barley meal, is made into a cake, and this when roasted 
or fried has a variety of names, johnny-cake, hoe-cake, 
pone, or Indian bread. 

Composition of Corn Meal. 

Nitrogenous matter 1 1 . i 

Carbohydrates 65. 1 



70 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

Fatty matter 8. i 

Saline matter 1.7 

Water 14.00 

100.00 

Composition of Dried Corn. 

Nitrogenous matter 12.50 

Starch 67.55 

. Dextrin, etc 4.00 

Fatty matter 8. So 

Cellulose 5.90 

Mineral matter 1. 25 

100.00 
While containing an average amount of nitrogenous 
matter, corn is characterized and distinguished, as is 
shown by the above analyses, from the other cerealia by 
the large amount of fatty matter present. As regards 
this quality, none of the other cerealia exhibit a close 
approach to it. On account of the fatty matter present, 
corn acquires, on keeping for some time, an unpleasant 
rancid taste, from the usual change induced by exposure 
to the air. Containing as it does, about the same per- 
centage of nitrogenous matter as soft wheat, and up- 
wards of four times the amount of fatty matter, corn 
stands in a high position as regards alimentary value. It 
is largely used both for feeding and fattening- animals. 
Corn is destined to be fed even more, to the exclusion 
of oats. The Ohio Experiment Station has for some 
time been conducting experiments which tend to show 
that corn is a cheaper food for working horses than oats. 
It has long been the opinion of most all horsemen that 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 71 

oats were the best of all grains for feeding horses. Ex- 
periments have proved that this is a mistake and that 
farm horses may be fed on corn with safety and economy, 
and with the assurance that they are well nourished, 
strong and serviceable with this food judiciously used. 
It is shown that a large portion of the bulk of oats (see 
composition of oats), is the covering of the oats which is 
hard to digest, and is of no more food value than wheat 
straw. In buying oats we have to pay for this waste hull 
covering at the same price per pound as we pay for the 
kernel, while in buying whole corn we have no such 
waste hull of covering. The value, as a food, of corn, 
has not yet been sufficiently recognized by the world. 
The use of corn for the family is being extended now 
everywhere. Corn meal made into puddings, cakes, etc., 
is remarkably nourishing and desirable in every way. 
For poultry it is the farmer's standard food, though he 
overdoes it usually by not providing enough of a variety 
with the corn, for it cannot be denied that any animal 
thrives best with an occasional change in food. In France 
they have discovered that corn may replace oats in feed- 
ing horses, and with good results. The composition of 
oats and corn is very similar. With poultry it is claimed 
that all experiments have proved whole corn to be just 
as good as cracked or ground corn for feeding. 

RICE. 

The common rice, or oryza sativa, is extensively cul- 
tivated in warm countries. It supplies the principal food 
of about a third of the human race. There is a large 
number of varieties of the plant cultivated, and con- 



72 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

siderably more than one hundred different kinds are 
grown in India. Rice is consumed as food, both in the 
state of grain and ground into flour. 

Composition of Rice. 

• 

Nitrogenous matter 6.3 

Carbohydrates 79.5 

Fatty matter 0.7 

Saline matter 0.5 

Water 13 00 

100.00 

Composition of Dried Rice. 

Nitrogenous matter 7.55 

Starch * 88.65 

Dextrin, etc 1.00 

Fatty matter 0.80 

Cellulose 1 . 10 

Mineral matter..." 0.90 

100.00 

Rice is characterized by the large proportion of 
starch, and the small proportions of nitrogenous, fatty, 
and mineral matter, it contains. In composition it must 
be looked upon as presenting considerable analogy to the 
potato. Rice, like the potato, is largely used for the 
manufacture of starch. 

Rice is too poor in nitrogenous matter, fatty matter, 
and salts, to yield alone what is wanted in an aliment, 
unless consumed in very large quantity, thereby sacri- 
ficing a considerable portion of its starch. The starch, 
in other words, is out of proportion to the other ali- 
mentary principles, looked at in relation to the require- 
ments of the system. Associated with other articles to 
compensate for the deficiency in the principles named, 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 73 

rice constitutes an exceedingly valuable food. It has 
the advantage of possessing an easily digestible starch 
granule, and so is found a useful aliment in disordered 
states of the alimentary canal. In the case of persons 
suffering from diarrhoea or dysentery it agrees better 
than any other kind of solid food. It certainly exerts no 
laxative action, as many of the cereals do, and is often 
regarded, indeed, as having an opposite effect, but it 
probably occupies a neutral position in this respect. Rice 
is best cooked by thoroughly steaming. If boiled in 
water it loses a portion of the already small quantity of 
nitrogenous and saline matter it contains. It does not 
admit of being made into bread, but is used mixed with 
wheaten flour to make very white bread. 

MILLET. 

The common millet, panicum milaceum, is a native of 
the East Indies, but is cultivated in many parts of the 
world. There is a very large number of varieties of 
millet, the grain of which is mostly used as food for 
poultry and other domestic animals. In nutritive value 
it ranks about equal to rice. 

Bl T CKWHKAT. 

Buckwheat, although not a cereal, may be conven- 
iently referred to in connection with the cereal grains. 
The common buckwheat is a native of Central Asia, and 
is said to have been introduced into Europe by the Cru- 
saders. The name buckwheat is a corruption of the 
German buchweizen (beechwheat), drawn from its re- 
semblance to the seed of the beech tree. The plant grows 
very quickly and yields abundantly, but, as it is destroyed 



74 A TREATISE OX FOODS. 

by frost, it cannot be sown until the season for cold 
weather has passed. No grain is eaten so eagerly by 
poultry, and it is sometimes given to horses instead of 
oats, or in combination with them. The seed is covered 
with a hard rind, or thin shell, which has to be removed 
before it is fit for being eaten by cattle. When used for 
human food it is usually made into thin cakes, which are 
very good eating. 

Composition of Buckwheat. 

Nitrogenous matter 13.10 

Starch, etc 64.90 

Fatty matter 3 00 

Cellulose 3.5° 

Mineral matter 2.50 

Water 13.00 

100.00 

LEGUMINOUS SEEDS. 

This group of farinaceous seeds, which includes beans, 
peas, and lentils, is characterized by the large proportion 
of nitrogenous matter they contain. In this respect they 
stand strikingly in advance of the eerealia. for the amount 
may be twice as much as that contained in an ordinary 
kind of wheat. The form under which the nitrogenous 
matter is present is chiefly as a substance called legumin, 
which is a representative of vegetable casein. 

By virtue of their composition, the leguminous seeds 
possess :i high nutritive value, and furnish a food which 
is more satisfying than vegetable food generally to the 
stomach, and more closely allied in a dietetic point of 
view to the alimentary products supplied by the animal 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 75 

kingdom. They thereby furnish an advantageous sub- 
stitute for animal food for those who fast during lent 
and on other clays, and it is probably on this account that 
such foods are largely consumed in France and other 
Catholic countries. Their large amount of nitrogenous 
matter adapts them for consumption in association with 
articles in which starch or fat is a predominating prin- 
ciple. With rice, therefore, they form an appropriate 
combination, this admixture being a staple food in many 
places. As a drawback to their high nutritive value, the 
leguminous seeds must be ranked as difficult of digestion. 
They require prolonged boiling to render them tender 
and digestible. They are apt, besides lying heavy on the 
stomach, to occasion flatulence and colic, and the flatus 
is charged with a considerable quantity of sulphuretted 
hydrogen, arising from the sulphur which the legumin 
contains. They are also regarded as stimulating or heat- 
ing to the system, and it is on account of this property 
that a moderate quantity of beans proves a serviceable 
adjunct to the food during the winter months. 

BEANS. 

Beans are derived from the faba vulgaris, a plant 
which is supposed to be a native of the East, but which 
has been cultivated in England from time immemorial. 
There are several varieties, one of which is the common 
field bean, and another the broad bean of the garden. 
The latter is boiled in the young and fresh state, for use 
at the table as a vegetable. 

Composition of Beans. 

Nitrogenous matter... 30.8 

Starch, etc 48.3 



76 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

Cellulose 3.0 

Fatty matter 1.9 

Saline matter 3.5 

Water 12.50 

100.00 
PEAS. 

There are several varieties of peas. Some, derived 
from pisum arvensc, are known as field peas. Others, 
forming the garden pea, are derived from the pisum 
sativum, a native of the South of Europe. Peas are 
grown for the ripened and dried seeds, and also for eat- 
ing as a succulent vegetable. In the latter case the pods 
are gathered before they have arrived at maturity, and 
the seeds separated and consumed in a green state. 

Peas, when quite young, are tender and sweet, and far 
more digestible, but less nourishing, than peas in the 
mature state. The latter, like other leguminous seeds, 
require slow and prolonged cooking to render them soft 
and digestible. 

Composition of Dried Peas. 

Nitrogenous matter 23.8 

Starch, etc. 58.7 

Cellulose 3.5 

Fatty matter 2.1 

Mineral matter 2.1 

Water 8.30 

100.00 
LENTILS. 

Lentils form another product yielded by the legum- 
inous tribe, and one of great antiquity. They are eaten 
quite extensively in some parts of Europe and the Far 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 77 

East. They are derived from the ervum lens, which con- 
stitutes a kind of tare. 

Composition of Lentils. 

Nitrogenous matter 25. 2 

Starch, etc 56.0 

Cellulose 2.4 

Fatty matter 2.6 

Mineral matter 2.3 

Water 11.50 

100.00 

OLEAGINOUS SEEDS. 

There are various seeds, denominated nuts, which are 
devoid of starch, but rich in oily matter. The starch of 
the cerealia appears to be replaced by fat. They are also 
rich in nitrog'enous matter, which exists under the form 
of albumen and casein. Thus constituted, they possess 
a high nutritive value, but, like all articles permeated 
with fatty matter, they are difficult of digestion unless 
reduced to a minutely divided state before being con- 
sumed. The reason of this is easily given. Digestion is 
effected by the agency of a watery secretion, and where 
a substance is permeated with oily matter resistance is 
offered to the penetration of a watery liquid, and it is 
only by a progressive action upon the surface that it can 
become attacked. In a minutely divided state, however, 
no such obstruction is offered, and now there is only the 
richness belonging to an article which is largely impreg- 
nated with fatty matter. In this state, and if the stomach 
be not too delicate for them, they form a highly advan- 
tageous kind of food, although among the human race 



78 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

they enjoy but a limited application as an important or 
staple support. It must further be remarked that, on 
account of their fatty constituents, they are prone to 
become rancid, in the course of time, under exposure to 
the air. 

THE ALMOND. 

This forms one of the most important of the oily 
seeds. The fruit, like the peach, apricot, plum, etc., 
belongs to the drupaceous group. The cortical part of it, 
however, is fibrous and juiceless, and not adapted for 
eating. The seed or kernel, situated within the shell. 
and provided with an enveloping reddish-brown skin, is 
the only edible portion. The skin possesses a somewhat 
rough and bitter taste. Two varieties of almond are met 
with, the sweet and the bitter. They both yield by 
pressure an odorless fixed oil, which is of a perfectly 
innocent nature. 

Composition of Sweet Almonds. 

Emulsin 24.0 

Fixed oil 54.0 

Liquid sugar.., 6.0 

Gum 30 

Seed coats 5.0 

Woody fibre 4.0 

Water 3.5 

Acetic acid and loss o.s 



100.00 
Composition of Bitter Almonds. 

Volatile oil, undetermined. 

Emulsin 30.0 

Fixed oil 2S.0 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 79 

Liquid sugar 6.5 

Gum 3.0 

Seed coats 8.5 

Woody fibre 5.0 

Loss 19.00 



100.00 



THE COCOANUT. 

The cocoanut is derived from the cocos nucifera, a 
species of palm, supposed to have been originally a native 
of the Indian coasts and South Sea Islands, but now 
found in all tropical regions. The tree grows from sixty 
to one hundred feet in height, and bears annually about 
an hundred nuts. The nut consists of a hard shell, con- 
taining a white, fleshy kernel, the central portion of 
which remains unsolidified, and yields the milky juice, 
which forms an agreeable, cooling beverage. The shell 
is surrounded by a thick, fibrous husk, which is turned 
to account for the construction of ropes, matting, etc., 
and in its natural state the fruit is about the size of a 
man's head. The fleshy, edible portion contains about 
70 per cent of a fixed fat, which is extracted and used 
under the name of cocoanut oil or butter. Its melting 
point is a little over 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The cocoa- 
nut forms one of the chief foods of the inhabitants of 
Ceylon, the South Sea Islands, the coast of Africa, and 
many other tropical coasts and islands. It is not only 
eaten as it comes from the tree, both in the ripe and 
unripe state, but is also prepared and served in various 
ways. 



80 A TREATISE ON FOODS- 

TUBERS AND ROOTS. 
Potatoes. 

The potato may be considered as now occupying a 
place next in importance to the seeds of the cerealia as an 
article of vegetable food. It is derived from the solan um 
tuberosum, a plant belonging to the order solanaceoe, 
which, including, as it does, the belladonna, stramonium, 
henbane, and tobacco plants, furnishes some of the most 
poisonous narcotic products encountered. 

It is supposed to be a native of South America, and 
to have extended thence to North America. It seems to 
have first been brought to the continent of Europe by 
the Spaniards, from the neighborhood of Quito, quite 
early in the sixteenth century, and to have been then 
cultivated in gardens only as a curiosity. Its introduc- 
tion into England and Ireland came from North America. 
The potatoes of Shakespeare are not the same as the 
potatoes under consideration; but, on the other hand, a 
product of the batatas edulis, known by the name of the 
sweet potato. The potato was a third time imported by 
Sir Walter Raleigh, and, as it then received notice as an 
article of food, the credit is usually given to him for its 
introduction among the English. The cultivation of the 
potato is now widely diffused over the globe, and it seems 
to thrive in most climates. The part of the plant used as 
a food constitutes the tuber, which is connected with, or, 
indeed, forms an exuberant growth of a portion of the 
underground stem, with which this plant, in common 
with some others, is provided, in addition to that which 
stows, as usual, above ground. The potato tuber is sur- 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 81 

rounded by a thin, grayish, epidermic covering, and 
beneath this is another tegumentary layer, in which color- 
ing matter is deposited. The substance of the potato is 
made up of cells, penetrated and surrounded by a water) 
albuminous juice, and filled with a number of starch 
granules. There. are many well-known different sorts 
of potato met with. They are derived from correspond- 
ing varieties in the plant. In the different varieties, 
notable difference in size, color, and edible qualities, are 
observable. 

Composition of the Potato. 

Nitrogenous matter 2.50 

Starch 20.00 

Cellulose 1.04 

Sugar and gummy matter 1.09 

Fatty matter o. 11 

Pectates, citrates, phosphates and 
silicates of lime, magnesia, 

potash and soda 1.26 

Water 74.00 

100.00 

It is thus seen that the potato contains a large per- 
centage of starch. This, indeed, forms its characteristic 
feature, and renders it applicable for the extraction, that 
is largely carried on, of starch for domestic and other 
purposes. While less expensive, there is nothing to show 
that the starch of the potato differs to any great extent. 
from the other starchy preparations, in a nutritive point 
of view. Potatoes require to be cooked to render them 
fit for eating, and this may be effected either by boiling, 
steaming, baking, or frying. The heat employed coag- 
ulates the albuminous juice contained within and between 



<"» 



82 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

the cells. The starch-granules absorb the watery part 
of the juice, swell up, and distend the cells in which they 

The cohesion of the cells becomes destro 
and they then easily separate from each other, leading 
to the potato easily breaking down into a loose fari- 

eous mass. When these changes are complete the 
potato is spoken of as being in a mealy condition. When. 
on the other hand, the liquid is only partially absorbed, 
and the cells inr ly separated, the potato remains 

more — firm, and is spoken of as close, waxy, or 

watery. Steaming is a better process for cooking p 
I v- than boiling, on account of not being a1 1 by 

the loss that is occasioned by the latter. When boiling 
is employed, the skin should not be removed, as is nearly 
always done: for the removal of the skin favors the ex- 
traction of the juice by the surrounding water. The 
waste, when potatoes are cooked in their skins only 
amounts to 3 per cent, whereas when they are peeled first, 
it is about 15 per cent. A little salt added to the water 
in which potatoes are boiled tends to prevent the escape 
of their saline constituents. 

The potato constitutes a wholesome ami .able 

article of food; and one. of which the palate does not 
easily become fatigued. The amount of nitrogenous 
matter it contains is too small, however, to enable it to 
form a suitable food alone, but with articles rich in nitrogr- 
enous matter, as meat, fish, etc.. it supplies a useful and 
economical alimentary substance. In a mealy state the 
enjoys easy digestibility; but in a close or watery 
a trying to the digestive powers, and, therefore, 
when in this condition, should be avoided where delicacy 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 83 

of stomach exists. The potato has a high repute for anti- 
scrobutic properties. The concurrent testimony of 
numerous observers points to its forming a most efficient 
agent in preventing the occurrence of scurvy. Potatoes 
become deteriorated upon growing out or germinating. 
They cease to assume a mealy state on cooking; present 
a semi-translucent appearance; and possess a rather 
sickly, sweetish taste. It has been asserted that a poison- 
ous principle, solan in, becomes developed in the buds and 
shoots of potatoes that are allowed to grow out on keep- 
ing. 1 f there be at any time a poison present, it must be 
either insignificant in amount, or be destroyed by the 
heat to which the potato is subjected before being sent 
to the table. Exposure to frost also seriously damages 
the potato. The effect produced is of a mechanical 
• nature. The watery juice contained in the cells and inter- 
cellular spaces undergoes expansion in the act of freez- 
ing, and so leads to a rupture and separation of the 
cells, and in this way a destruction of the organization of 
the tuber. Its vitality becomes thus destroyed, and in 
consequence, it has no longer the power to resist, when 
thawed, the ordinary changes of decomposition; hence, 
putrefaction occurs, and advancing, renders the article 
unfit for food. 

THE SWEET POTATO. 

The sweet potato is derived from the batatas edulis, 
a plant which is a native of the Malayan Archipelago, 
where it formerly grew wild in woods. The plant is now- 
cultivated in most of the warm countries, and furnishes 
a starchy and sweet tuber, which is prized as an article 



84 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

of food in most hot climates. When roasted or boiled, it 
is mealy, and may be looked upon as forming a whole- 
some food. It is supposed to possess slight laxative 
properties. 

Composition of the Sweet Potato. 

Nitrogenous matter 1.50 

Starch 16.05 

Sugar 10. 20 

Cellulose 0.45 

Fatty matter 030 

Other organic matter 1. 10 

Mineral salts 2.60 

Water 67.50 

100.00 

CARROTS. 

The garden carrot is derived by cultivation from the. 
damns sarota, a plant 'which grows freely in a wild state 
in fields in some countries. The root of the wild plant 
is white, slender, and hard, and has an acrid, disagreeable 
taste, and strong aromatic smell. As the result of culti- 
vation, the root of the garden variety is thick, fleshy, and 
succulent and of a red, yellow, or pale straw color, with 
a pleasant odor, and a sweet, agreeable taste. While 
young it is very tender, but becomes hard when allowed 
to grow old. Carrots form a wholesome and useful food, 
for both man and cattle. They are not adapted, however, 
for a weak stomach, being somewhat indigestible and apt 
to produce flatulence. They are proportionately valuable 
as they have more of the outer, soft red, than the central, 
yellow, core-like part. On account of the sugar present, 
they admit of a syrup being prepared from them, and 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 85 

also yield by fermentation and distillation, a spirituous 
liquid. 

Composition of Carrots. 

Nitrogenous matter 1.3 

Starch, etc 8.4 

Sugar 6. 1 

Fat 0.2 

Mineral matter 1.0 

Water 83.00 

100.00 
THE PARSNIP. 

The root of the parsnip, pastinaca sativa, is of a pale 
yellow color, but otherwise closely resembles that of the 
carrot, both in general characters and alimentary prop- 
erties. It is usually served as an accompaniment with 
salt fish. 

Composition of the Parsnip. 

Nitrogenous matter 1.1 

Starch, etc. 9.6 

Sugar 5.8 

Fat 0.5 

Salts 1.0 

Water 82.00 



100.00 
Parsnips are not only used as a vegetable, but a wine 
is sometimes made from them. 

THE TURNIP. 

Turnips form an agreeable and extensively used veg- 
etable, being either cooked alone or mixed with soups 
and stews. From the large proportion of water it con- 



86 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

tains, its nutritive value is low. The top shoots of such 
turnip plants as have stood the winter may be gathered, 
and used as a green vegetable. Those from the Swedish 
turnip are the sweetest flavored. 

Composition of the Turnip. 

Nitrogenous matter 1.2 

Starch, etc 5.1 

Sugar 2. 1 

Salts 0.6 * 

Water 91.00 

100.00 
BEET-ROOT. 

The common or red beet, beta vulgaris, which belongs 
to the family of saltworts, that contain also the spinich, 
quinoa, etc., and is characterized by the large amount of 
alkali in combination with an organic acid present in the 
plants, is a native of the coasts of the Medeterranean, 
and was cultivated as far back as 1650. It was then 
called beet-rave, from the French betterave. The root is 
usually of an elongated form, like that of the carrot, but 
in some varieties it assumes more of a turnip-shaped 
character. The color varies from a deepish blackish-red, 
to a light red. Beets are extensively grown and employed 
as food both for man and cattle ; and also used as a source 
of sugar. 

RADISHES. 

The common radish is a native of China. The root is 
either long and spindle shaped, or round and turnip 
shaped. The color of the exterior varies: there being 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 87 

black, violet, red, and white radishes; but in all the 
central portion is white. It is usually eaten in a raw 
state, but is sometimes boiled and served as a vegetable. 
In composition, the radish closely resembles the turnip. 

SALSIFY. 

The salsify, or purple goat's beard, also known as the 
Oysterplant, is a hardy plant. The root is long and 
tapering, and becomes by cultivation fleshy and tender, 
with a white milky juice. It has a mild, sweetish taste, 
like the parsnip, and is boiled or stewed for the table. 

HERBACEOUS ARTICLES. 

These include foliaceous parts, shoots, and stems of 
plants. They are valuable as articles of food, not so much 
for the absolute amount of nutritive matter afforded — 
for, on account of their succulent nature, they contain 
but a small proportion of solid matter — as for the salts 
they yield and the variety they give to our diet. By cul- 
tivation they have been brought to a very different state 
from that in which they originally existed. To make 
them tender and agreeably flavored is part of the art of 
the gardner, and is effected by quick growth and, in many 
instances by a partial exclusion of light. The antiscor- 
butic virtue of this class of vegetables is high. 

The products of the cabbage tribe are too well known 
to call for a long description. Looked at in a general 
way, the various cabbage plants form a wholesome and 
agreeable component part of the food of man. As they 
contain about ninety per cent of water their nutritive 
value is very low. They are, however, useful for giving 



88 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

variety, and for the salts they supply. They labor under 

the disadvantage of being articles of difficult digestion. 

which renders them unsuited where weakness of stomach 

exists. Their proportion of sulphur is large., and they 

thus are apt to give rise to flatulence of an unpleasant 

nature. 

SPINACH. 

The vegetable falling under this name forms the 
leaves of the spinacia oleracea, or garden spinach, a plant 
supposed to be a native of Western Arabia. There are 
several varieties of the plant, and the leaves are boiled 
for use at the table, to be eaten as a green vegetable, and 
are also frequently employed for introduction into soup. 
It is a wholesome vegetable with slightly laxative powers. 
The Beet family belongs to the same tribe, and the leaves 
of the beet are often used as spinach. 

RHUBARB. 

This forms another of the buckwheat tribe, and yields 
one of the most useful of garden productions. The stalks 
of the leaves, after being peeled, are cooked and eaten 
precisely in the same way as stewed berries, for whiich 
they form a good substitute, if even they are not to be 
preferred. Rhubarb occupies, indeed, in an alimentary 
point of view, the position of a fruit, but is not so eatable 
in the raw state. It is also sometimes used for making 
wine. On account of the oxalate of lime forming a con- 
stituent of rhubarb it should be avoided by persons suf- 
fering from the oxalate-of-lime diathesis. 

CELERY. 
The common celery, apium graveolens, is a native of 
Britain, and in the wild state is known as smallage, winch 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 89 

grows freely in marshy places. In this state it has a 
coarse, rank taste, and peculiar smell. By cultivation it 
loses its acrid nature, and becomes mild and sweet. To 
keep it white or blanched, it is excluded from light, by 
being earthed up as it grows, the tops of the leaves only 
being allowed above the ground. Several varieties of the 
plant are to be met with. Eaten raw, it must undoubtedly 
be looked upon as difficult of digestion. It is frequently 
stewed, and is employed also for introducing into soups. 

ASPARAGUS. 

The asparagus officinalis belongs to the lily tribe, and 
in its wild state is a sea coast plant. It is a native of 
Europe, and is now extensively cultivated as a garden 
vegetable. The young shoots form the portion that is 
eaten, and, by cultivation these have been greatly in- 
creased in size, and altered from their original condi- 
tion. They are universally esteemed as a choice and deli- 
cate vegetable. They contain a special crystallizable prin- 
ciple, called asparagin, which possesses diuretic proper- 
ties, and gives a peculiar odor to the urine. 

ONION. 

The onion, allium cepa, like the asparagus, although 
differing so much from it in dietetic properties, belongs 
to the lily tribe of plants. In common with, but to a 
higher degree than the other members of the allium 
species, which includes also the garlic, chive, shallot, and 
leek, it contains an acrid volatile oil, which possesses 
strongly irritant and excitant properties. Grown in 
Spain and other warm places, the onion is milder and 
sweeter than when grown in colder countries. The chief 



90 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

uses of the onion reared in our gardens is as a condiment 
or flavoring - agent, and they are also stewed and roasted 
for the table. 

LETTUCE. 

The garden lettuce, lactuca sativa, is a hardy plant, 
of which a great number of varieties exist. It is supposed 
to be a native of the East Indies, but has been cultivated 
in Europe from a remote period of antiquity. The leaves 
are usually round and spreading and grow near to the 
ground. The lettuce supplies a wholesome, digestible, 
cooling, and agreeable food. It is occasionally made use 
of as a boiled vegetable. It contains a milky juice, 
especially when the plant has been allowed to run to 
flower, which possesses a mild soporific property. 

CRESS. 

The common or garden cress, lepidium sativum, is a 
native of the East, but has been under cultivation for 
hundreds of years. The young leaves are used as salad, 
and they possess a pungent and agreeable flavor. It 
ranks as one of the principal of the small salads, and a 
variety with curled leaves is especially esteemed. 

WATERCRESS. 

The watercress, nasturtium officinale, is a creeping 
plant, which grows in slow-running streams, and thrives 
best on a bottom of sand or gravel. It is a native of 
almost all parts of the world, and forms a favorite and 
wholesome article, which is seldom out of season. There 
are two varieties — the green and brown. 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 91 

FRUITY PRODUCTS CONSUMED AS 
VEGETABLES. 

CUCUMBER. 

The common cucumber, cucumis sativus, is a native of 
the South of Asia, but has long" been cultivated in all 
civilized countries. It furnishes a fleshy fruit, which 
forms an edible product. It is grown both in the open 
air and under glass, the fruit varying in size, tenderness, 
and flavor, accordingly ; that which is forced or grown 
quickly possessing choicer qualities than that which is 
grown slowly. Cucumber in the raw state must be looked 
upon as a cold and indigestible article. Young cucum- 
bers are pickled in vinegar and condiments, and in this 
state they form an agreeable relish at a meal, and serve 
to give zest to other food. 

TOMATO 

The tomato, or love-apple, solanum ly coper sicum, is 
a native of South America. The ripe fruit is used in 
various .ways, and has an agreeable acidulous taste. It 
is more, perhaps, as a relish, than for its nutritive value 
that it is useful, and its popularity increases every year. 
In the unripe state it makes an excellent pickle. It is 
also extensively used in the manufacture of tomato 
ketchup. 

MUSHROOMS. 

The agaricus cam pest r is constitutes the common edible 
mushroom. It is found springing up spontaneously in 
our woods and pastures during the warm seasons, and is 
also cultivated in beds of prepared horse manure, and 



92 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

thence obtainable all the year round. It is a native of 
most of the temperate regions of both hemispheres. It 
produces a spreading- filrneritous or thread-like under- 
ground structure, called the mycelium or spawn. From 
this, little tubers spring, which rapidly enlarge, and grow 
into a stalk, bearing at its summit a rounded head, which, 
in a short time, expands into a pileus or cap. This, which 
forms the edible portion, constitutes the fructification, 
and presents upon its under surface a number of parallel 
plates or gills, that bear the sporules of the fungus. 

Mushrooms are employed for flavoring, and as- an 
occasional delicacy, rather than as a common article of 
io^d. Although difficult of digestion, and, therefore, not 
adapted \ov the weak stomach, yet by most healthy 
persons they may be consumed without proving hurtful. 
They are eaten in the fresh state, either broiled, baked, 
or stewed, and are also preserved by pickling. The young 
or button mushrooms are used for the latter purpose. 

The r semblance between mushrooms and toadstools 
is so close, that serious consequences have arisen from 
the wrong fungus having been eaten. The effects pro- 
duced by the poisonous fungus are of a narcotico-acrid 
nature; sometimes coma has been noticed as the predom- 
inant symptom, at other times the symptoms have been 
allied to those of cholera. 

TRUFFLES. 

The truffle forms a subterraneous fungus, which never 
appears above the surface. There are three varieties — 
the black, white, and red or violet. The latter is rare, 
and of the two former the black is held in by far the 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 93 

higher repute. The white, indeed, is considered of com- 
paratively little value. To be in perfection, truffles 
should lie quite fresh, much of their aroma being lost by 
keeping. Truffles are considered, in the Old World, an 
article of the greatest delicacy. Their firm and toughish 
consistence renders them indigestible, but they are 
esteemed for the sake of their peculiar aroma. They are 
seldom eaten alone. They are often used as a stuffing, 
and to flavor gravies and sauces. 

FRUITS. 

The term fruit, in botanical language, signifies the 
seed, with the surrounding structures, in progress to, or 
arrived at, maturity. In a popular and dietetic sense, it 
has a more limited signification, and refers in a general 
way only to such product when used in the manner of a 
dessert. Botanically, wheat, peas, beans, etc., constitute 
fruits, but popularly the term is restricted to articles like 
apples, pears, plums, peaches, cherries, grapes, etc. 

Fruits consist of two parts, the seed, and what is 
technically called the pericarp. The latter comprises that 
which surrounds the seed, and is composed of the eatable 
portion, the external integument or skin; the inner coat 
or shell; and the intermediate part, which generally 
possesses a more or less fleshy consistence. It is the in- 
termediate part which forms the edible succulent portion 
of the fruit. 

The flower, and thence the fruit, is formed from mod- 
ifications of the leaf, and in an early stage the fruit is 
green, and exhibits much the same chemical composition 
and general comportment as the leaf. It is only as ma- 



( )4 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

turity advances that its special characteristics become de- 
veloped. At first, like other green parts of the plant, it 
absorbs and decomposes the carbonic acid of the atmos- 
phere under the influence of light, liberating oxygen and 
assimilating the carbon. During its progress it increases 
more or less rapidly in bulk and weight; and, as it ap- 
proaches maturity, it loses its green color, and becomes 
brown, yellow or red, and no longer acts on the air like 
the leaves, but on the contrary absorbs oxygen and gives 
out carbonic acid. As this process advances, some of the 
proximate principles contained in the unripe fruit, par- 
ticularly the vegetable acids and tannin, in part disappear, 
apparently by oxidation, and thus, it becomes less sour 
and astringent. At the same time the starch undergoes 
transformation into sugar; and the insoluable pectose, 
into pectin and other soluble substances of allied com- 
position and having more or less of a gelatinous char- 
acter. The fruit in this way arrives at a state of perfec- 
tion for eating. Oxidation, however, still advances, and 
now, the sugar and remaining acid become destroyed, 
giving rise to the loss of flavor which occurs after the 
full ripened state has been attained and deterioration has 
set in . Finally, if the changes are allowed to pursue 
their ordinary course, the pericarp undergoes decay, and 
the seed is set free. 

The agreeable taste of fruits partly depends on the 
aroma, and partly on the existence of a due relation 
between the acid, sugar, gum, pectin, etc., and likewise 
between the water and the soluble and insoluble con- 
stituents. Luscious fruits like the peach, which seem to 
melt in the mouth, contain a very large proportion of 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 95 

soluble substances. A due proportion of gum, pectin, 
and other gelatinous substances, serve to mask the taste 
of the free acid, if present in a somewhat large proper- 
tion as compared with the sugar. Such is the case with 
the peach, apricot, and greengage, which contain but a 
small amount of sugar as compared with the free acid, 
but a large proportion of gum and pectous substances. 
The sour taste of certain berry fruits, as the currant and 
gooseberry, arise from the presence of a considerable 
quantity of free acid, with only a small amount of gum 
and pectin to disguise it. By cultivation, the proportion 
of sugar may be increased in fruits, as is shown by the 
difference existing between the wild and cultivated straw- 
berry and raspberry. 

Fruit forms an agreeable and refreshing kind of food, 
and, eaten in moderate quantity, exerts a favorable in- 
fluence as an article of diet. Its proportion of nitro- 
genous matter is too low, and of water too high, to allow 
it to possess much nutritive value. It is chiefly of service, 
looking at the actual material afforded, for the carbo- 
hydrates, vegetable acids, and salts it contains. It enjoys 
to a high degree the power of counteracting the unhealthy 
state found to be induced by too close restriction to dried 
and salted provisions. The preserved juice acts in this 
way equally as well as the fresh fruit, and the juice of 
certain fruits, the lemon and lime, for instance, as is 
well known, is specially and largely used for its anti- 
scorbutic efficacy. 

While advantageous when consumed in moderate 
quantity, fruit, on the other hand, proves often injurious 
if eaten in excess. Of a highly succulent nature, and 



96 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

containing free acids and principles prone to undergo 
change, it is apt, when ingested out of due proportion to 
other food, to act as a disturbing element, and excite de- 
rangement of the alimentary canal. This is particularly 
likely to occur if eaten either in the unripe or overripe 
state; in the former case, from the quantity of acid 
present; in the latter, from its strong tendency to fer- 
ment and decompose within the digestive tract. The 
prevalence of stomach and bowel disorders, noticeable 
during the height of the fruit season, affords proof of the 
inconvenience that the too free use of fruit may give 
rise to. 

The effect of fruit is to diminish the acidity of the 
urine. The alkaline vegetable salts which it contains 
becomes decomposed in the system, and converted into 
the carbonate of the alkali, which passes off with the 
urine. By virtue of this result the employment of fruit 
is calculated to prove advantageous in gout and other 
cases where the urine shows a tendency to throw down 
a deposit of lithic acid. 

THE APPLE. 

The apple, pyrus mains, and of which there are now 
very numerous varieties, is derived by cultivation from 
the wild crab, a native of Britain, and other parts of 
Europe. 

'Hie apple forms one of the most useful and plentiful 
of fruits. It is introduced into tarts and puddings, 
besides being employed at the dessert table and made into 
sauce, preserve, and jelly. It also furnishes the fer- 
mented beverage called cider. Verjuice is the fermented 
juice of the crab-apple. 



a treatise on foods. 97 

Composition of Apples. 

Soluble matter: — 

Sugar... 7.58 

Free acid (reduced to equivalent 

in malic) 1.04 

Albuminous snbstances 0.22 

Pectous substances, etc. 2.72 

Ash '. o-44 

Insoluble matter: — 

Seeds 0.38 

Skins, etc 1.42 

Pectose 1. 16 

Water 85.04 



100.00 
THE PEAR. 

The pear, pyriis communis, like the apple, flourishes 
pretty much everywhere. There is a large number of 
varieties of the pear. The fruit is chiefly used for dessert, 
but is also stewed and preserved as other fruits are. 

Composition of Pears. 
Soluble matter: — 

Sugar 7.000 

Free acid (reduced to equivalent 

malic acid) 0.074 

Albuminous substances 0.260 

Pectous substances 3.281 

Ash... 0.285 

Insoluble matter: — 

Seeds 0.390 

Skins, etc 3.420 

Pectose 1.340 

Water 83.950 

100.000 



100 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

moderate quantity. Prunes are used for their laxative 
effect. 

THE CHERRY. 

The common cherry, cerasus duracina, is supposed to 
have been a native of Syria and other parts of Western 
Asia. The different varieties vary greatly in color. 
Cherries, like plums, require to be eaten in moderation, 
on account of their tendency to disorder the bowels. In 
the unripe and unsound state they are particularly apt to 
do so. The stones of cherries should never be swallowed. 

THE PEACH. 

The peach, amygdalus persica, is a native of Persia 
and the North of India, and is now grown in all temper- 
ate climates. It thrives very freely and produces most 
plentifully in the United States. The peach forms one 
of the most luscious and choicest of fruits. The skin is 
downy or velvety, and its color varies from a dark red- 
dish violet through many shades of crimson, green or 
vellow, to the clear white. The composition shows that 
the peach is notable for the small quantity of saccharine 
matter it contains in comparison with all other kinds of 
edible fruits. 

Composition of the Peach. 

Soluble matter: — 

Sugar 1.580 

Free acid 0.612 

Albuminous substances 0.463 

Pectous substances, etc 6.313 

Ash 0.422 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 101 

Insoluble matter: — 

Seeds 4.629 

Skins, pectose, etc 0.991 

Water 84.990 

100.000 

THE OLIVE. 

The olive tree, oka europoea, is supposed to be 
originally a native of Greece, but it has long been natural- 
ized in other countries. The fruit in the ripe state is 
black, and its fleshy part abounds in oil, which is ex- 
pressed and used as salad oil and for cooking. The ripe 
fruit has a strong and, most persons would consider, a 
disagreeable taste. 

THE DATE. 

The date is derived from the phoenix dactylifcra, the 
date palm or palm tree of Scripture, a native of Afiica 
and parts of Asia, and now brought into cultivation in 
parts of Europe. Dates, both fresh and dried, form the 
chief food of the Arabs. Cakes of dates pounded and 
kneaded together into a solid mass constitute also the 
store of food, called the "bread of the desert," provided 
for caravans on their journey through the desert. The 
fruit is of a drupaceous nature, and the fleshy part con- 
tains about 58 per cent of sugar, accompanied by pectin, 
gum, etc. 

THE GRAPE. 

The grape vine, vitia vinifera, is indigenous in the far 
East. It produces fruit in the form of a globular or oval 
berry with a smooth skin. The color of the fruit is very 



100 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

moderate quantity. Prunes are used for their laxative 
effect. 

THE CHERRY. 

The common cherry, cerasus duracina } is supposed to 
have been a native of Syria and other parts of Western 
Asia. The different varieties vary greatly in color. 
Cherries, like plums, require to be eaten in moderation, 
on account of their tendency to disorder the bowels. In 
the unripe and unsound state they are particularly apt to 
do so. The stones of cherries should never be swallowed. 

THE PEACH. 

The peach, amygdalus persica, is a native of Persia 
and the North of India, and is now grown in all temper- 
ate climates. It thrives very freely and produces most 
plentifully in the United States. The peach forms one 
of the most luscious and choicest of fruits. The skin is 
downy or velvety, and its color varies from a dark red- 
dish violet through many shades of crimson, green or 
yellow, to the clear white. The composition shows that 
the peach is notable for the small quantity of saccharine 
matter it contains in comparison with all other kinds of 
edible fruits. 

Composition of the Peach. 

Soluble matter: — 

Sugar 1.580 

Free acid 0.612 

Albuminous substances 0.463 

Pectous substances, etc. 6.313 

Ash 0.422 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 101 

Insoluble matter: — 

Seeds 4.629 

Skins, pectose, etc Q-99I 

Water 84.990 

100.000 

THE OLIVE. 

The olive tree, olea europoea, is supposed to be 
originally a native of Greece, but it has long been natural- 
ized in other countries. The fruit in the ripe state is 
black, and its fleshy part abounds in oil, which is ex- 
pressed and used as salad oil and for cooking. The ripe 
fruit has a strong and, most persons would consider, a 
disagreeable taste. 

THE DATE. 

The date is derived from the phoenix dactylifcra, the 
date palm or palm tree of Scripture, a native of Afiica 
and parts of Asia, and now brougiit into cultivation in 
parts of Europe. Dates, both fresh and dried, form the 
chief food of the Arabs. Cakes of dates pounded and 
kneaded together into a solid mass constitute also the 
store of food, called the "bread of the desert," provided 
for caravans on their journey through the desert. The 
fruit is of a drupaceous nature, and the fleshy part con- 
tains about 58 per cent of sugar, accompanied by pectin, 



gum, etc. 



THE GRAPE. 



The grape vine, vitia vinifera, is indigenous in the far 
East. It produces fruit in the form of a globular or oval 
berry with a smooth skin. The color of the fruit is very 



". : A TREATISE ON I D DS 

g^reec ed, tc 

black. Hundreds af etdes ~ bed in works ;:. 

tlie culture lant The g Is : the mos 

- rul and gi esteem* s The skin and s< 

»estible and s - juicy pulp 

ssesses *s - nutritious, 

- and may usual'; - s ..ken by If 

5 a liuretic and laxai i 
The jui< t grapes < ins a < 

: grape-sugar, s k g ... 

and [extractive s tartrate 

lime, a little mar'; tgrt ents susj ended 

or dissolve 

M POSIT ION .^APES;. 

Soluble matter: — 

Sugai •. ;. 7$ 

Free acid 1.02c 

Albuminotis - ~ o 832 

Pectous 5H stances, 

Ash D - 

Insoluble matter: — 

Seeds and -<:ns 2.5 2 

Pec: use 

Water ~ 

100.000 

THE STRAWBERRY. 

The common wc stn berry is indigenous in a) 
all te tes. The products ; lave 

ted 1 y cultr lis rank among" the 

most tempting of summer fruits I afford 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 103 

an example of one of the greatest triumphs of the 
gardener's art. The fruit of the different plants varies 
greatly in size and keeping- qualities. The wild straw- 
berry has only about one-halt as much sugar as the tame 
cultivated varieties. 

Composition of Strawberries. 

Soluble matter: — 

Sugar 7.575 

Free acid 1. 133 

Albuminous substances °-359 

Pectous substances, etc. 0.119 

Ash 0.480 

Insoluble matter: — 

Seeds, skins, etc 1.960 

Pectose 0.900 

Water S7.474 

100.000 
THE MULBERRY. 

The black or common mulberry, morns nigra, is a 
native of Persia, but is supposed to have been introduced 
into Europe by the Romans. The fruit is of a purplish 
black color, with dark red juice, tine aromatic flavor, and 
acidulous, and sweet taste. It possesses wholesome, re- 
frigerant and slightly laxative properties, and is highly 
esteemed for dessert: an excellent preserve and an agree- 
able wine are made from it. 

CoMrosiTlox of Mulberries. 

Solid matter: — 

Sugar 9. 192 

Free acid 1.S60 

Albuminous substances 0.304 

Pectous substances, etc. 2.031 

Ash o. 566 



104 A MtB - ns FOODS 

In>. -'.-.:: — 

Seeds and sk as Q 905 

close o 345 

Watei £4 

THE ME1 ON 

1 1 gsl the 
, - - size, c 

- ssmool 

the fles s gre< 

sug s dess< 

, . . - 

te its congeners e cu< 
sagre* 

shing the fines 
ess* - esides being eat< i esh s 

eservi sug 

se en . - i . ... 

THE Fl 

ig, ficus i 
eties - - erous, « 

some is bluis ers, rt 

e, greer . be 1m nit is pear-s 

isists . ss c g nu seed-like 

sugar •; est I s exee< g arg* 
n c es th< laric scious 



A TREATISE on POODS. 105 

fruit. Fig's are largely Imported in a dried and com- 
pressed stale [f Freely eaten ttoey arc apt to irritate and 
disorder the stomach and bowels. 

THE PLANTAIN WW) IVAN ANA. 

The plant ian, miisa pwodisiaca, is a native of the 
East Indies, luit is now diffused all over the tropical and 
subtropical regions oi the globe. It is so called on account 
of having been supposed to have furnished the fruit winch 
tempted Eve in Paradise. The banana, musa sapientum, 
appears to be only a variety ^\ the plantain, bearing 
smaller and more delicately flavored fruit. Its name is 
due to its having formed the chief \od(\ o\ the Brahmins 
or wise people o\ India. They both constitute exceed 
ingly productive plants, and it is asserted that an extent 
of ground which would only grow wheat enough for the 
support o\ two persons would maintain fifty il cultivated 
with the plantain. Maintains and bananas form im 
portant and valuable articles ^\ i^^A to the inhabitants 
^\ many tropical regions. They even afford in some 
localities the chief alimentary support oi the people. The 
fruit occurs in large hunches or clusters, which weigh 
nearly fifty pounds. On stripping off the tegumentary 
part, a softish core is met with, which is chiefly fari- 
naceous in the unripe, and saccharine in the ripe state; 
the starch becoming converted, it is stated, during matur- 
ation, first into a mucilaginous substance, and then into 
sugar. Plantain meal is prepared by powdering and sift- 
ing the dried core of the plantain while in the green or 
unripe slate. It has a fragrant odor, and a bland taste, 
like that o\ common wheat flour. It is said to he easv 



106 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

of digestion, and to be extensively employed in some 
countries as the food of infants, children and invalids. 
The larger proportion of it consists of starch, but it also 
contains a certain percentage of nitrogenous matter, and 
is, therefore, of higher alimentary value than the starch 
preparations, as sago, arrowroot, etc. 

Composition of the Pulp of Ripe Bananas. 

Nitrogenous matter 4.820 

Sugar, pectose, organic acid, with 

traces of starch 19-657 

Fatty matter 0.632 

Cellulose 0.200 

Saline matter 0-79 1 

Water 73.900 

100.000 
SACCHARINE PREPARATIONS. 

Sugar forms an important alimentary principle, and 
is met with widely, and in certain cases largely, among 
vegetable products, from some of which it is extracted 
for use. It also constitutes under the name of lactin, one 
of the ingredients of the animal food provided by nature 
for the support of the young mammal, viz., milk. Sugar 
was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and its 
manufacture is said to be of the greatest antiquity in 
China. Sugar evidently contributes towards force-pro- 
duction in the body, and, likewise, as is shown by ample 
evidence, towards the formation and accumulation of fat. 
Being of a soluble and diffusible nature, it needs no 
preliminary digestion for absorption, and, therefore, sits 
lightly on the stomach. It is, however, in some dyspeptics 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 107 

apt to undergo the acid fermentation, and give rise to 
preternatural acidity of the stomach, and likewise fatu- 
lence. A popular notion prevails that sugar has a ten- 
dency to injure the teeth. This is due to the acid fer- 
mentation in the stomach after swallowing. 

Besides employment as a daily article of food, sugar 
constitutes the base of a variety of products of the con- 
fectioner's art. On account of its antiseptic virtue, it is 
also extensively used as a preservative of other sub- 
stances. It is chiefly vegetable products, as fruits, etc., 
that it is employed for preserving, but animal substances 
can be equally well kept by the influence it exerts in this 
direction. 

HONEY. 

Honey may be most conveniently referred to here, 
although not an article standing in precisely the same 
position as the other products included in the group. It 
is an article collected by the bee for its own use, which 
man takes possession of and consumes instead. It is an 
exudation from the nectariferous glands of flowers, which 
the bee sucks up and passes into the dilation of the 
oesophagus forming the crop or honey-bag. From this 
it is afterwards disgorged, probably somewhat altered in 
its properties by the secretion of the crop, and deposited 
in the cell of the honeycomb. Honey is a concentrated 
solution of sugar, mixed with odorous, coloring, gummy, 
and waxy matters. 

FARINACEOUS PREPARATIONS. 

Farinaceous or starch matter is a product which is 
yielded by the vegetable kingdom only. Here, however, 



108 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

it is widely, and often very largely met with. Ir occurs 
under the form of little granular bodies starch-granules 

Iged in the vegetable tissues, but readily suscep: 
under appropriate treatment, of isolation. These gran- 
nies possess a distinctly organized construction, and are 
made up of a series of superposed layers, the outermost 
of which is the thickest and hardest. Thus are ; 
duced the concentric lines which are visible when the 
grannie is submitted to microscopic examination, 
which are arranged around a spot which is called the 
hilutn. The grannies from different sources present dis- 
tinctive features as regards, size, form, and appear:, 
which may be recognized with the aid of the microsc 

Starch forms an important alimentary article. Being 
devoid of nitrogen, it can contribute only towards :' 
and fat production. The hardness of the external en- 
velope renders the grannie in its original state difficull 
digestion — and digestion, which involves transformation 
into sugar, must occur before absorption and utilizal 
can occur. On this account, when starch is consume 
the raw state, more or less of it passes off with the undi- 
gested residue from the alimentarv canal. By boiling, 
or otherwise exposing to heat, the grannies rnptnre and 
►me far more easily attacked by the digestive juices. 
Starchy matter, therefore, should be subjected to cooking- 
be fore being consumed. 

There are various starchy preparations in common 
use. such as sago, cassava, tapioca, arrowroot, salep, etc. 

BEVERAGES 

A supply of water under some shape or other is one 
of the essential conditions of life. It is just as needful 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 109 

as solid matter. It not only enters largely into the con- 
struction of the different parts of the organism, but is 
required for various purposes in the performance of the 
operations of life. Without it, for instance, there could 
be no circulation nor molecular mobility of any kind. 
It forms the liquid element of the secretions, and thereby 
the medium iov dissolving and enabling the digested food 
to pass into the system and the effete products to pass 
out. A constant ingress and egress are occurring, and 
tlie former requires to stand in proper adjustment to the 
latter. Under ordinary conditions of exercise and tem- 
perature it may be estimated that about five pints of fluid 
pass off through the kidneys, skin, lungs, and alimentary 
canal from an average sized adult in the course of the 
twenty-four hours, and this has to be replenished from 
without. But it is not necessary that this amount should 
be drunlc. A large proportion of our solid food, in many 
cases as much as 70, 80, or 00 per cent consist of water. 
The loss going oti, however, represents such a fluctuating 
product dependent on exercise or work and the tempera- 
ture to which the body is exposed that great variation 
must ensue in the amount of fluid consumed. 

If a plain and wholesome liquid be drunk the error 
is not likely to be committed of taking too much. After 
compensating for the loss by the skin, and with the breath, 
the surplus passes off through the urinary channel, and it 
is desirable that this surplus should amply suffice to carry 
off the effete products forming the solid matter of the 
urine in a thoroughly dissolved state. 

Water constitutes the essential basis of all our drinks, 
taken purely as such. The liquids consumed are of 



110 A TREATISE OX FOODS. 

various kinds, but water is the element physiologically 

and indispensably required. Water is derivable from 
various sources, and is denominated accordingly as. rain 
water, spring water, well water, river water, distilled 
water, etc. 

TEA. 

Tea constitutes the dried leaves of a plant belonging 
to the genus thea of linnaeus. It is indigenous in China. 
Cochin China. Japan, and India. Tea is consumed under 
the form of infusion, which should be prepared by p 
ing boiling water on it. and allowing it to stand a short 
time. If boiled, a loss of its characteristic flavor occurs 
through the dissipation of the aromatic principle, which 
is very volatile. Tea contains essential oil, chlorophyll, 
wax. resin, gum, tannin, them, extractive matter, color- 
ing substance, albumen, fibre and ash. 

COFFEE. 

Coffee beans constitute the seeds found within the 
fruit of th< • )ffea arabica } a small tree belonging to the 
tribe coifed which is indigenous in Southern Abys- 

sinia. The fruit forms a succulent berry, similar in 
appearance and color to a small cherry. Each berry con- 
tains usually two seeds, forming the coffee bean of com- 
merce, surrounded by a parchment-like envelope and 
fleshy pulp. 

The chief constituents of coffee are of the same nature 
as tea. A volatile oil which gives to coffee the aroma 
it possesses, and is developed by the process of roasting. 
The amount of it is less than that existing in tea. An 
astringent matter constituting a modification of tannin 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. Ill 

and called caffee-tannic and caffeic acids. It is present 
in much smaller quantity than tannic acid in tea, and 
amounts to about 5 per cent in raw coffee. Caffein — this 
principle is identical with thein. The amount of it in 
coffee varies considerably. 

Composition of Coffee. 

Cellulose 34. 

Water 12. 

Fatty matter 13. 

Glucose, dextrin, vegetable acid, 15.5 

L,egumin, casein, etc 10. 

Chloroginate of potash and of 

caffein 5. 

Nitrogenized structure 3. 

Caffein 0.8 

Essential oil 0.001 

Aromatic essence 0.002 

Mineral substances 6.697 

100.000 
COCOA. 

Cocoa constitutes a product derived from the seeds of 
the theobroma cacao, a tree indigenous in South America, 
Mexico, and the West Indies. The term cocoa, as ap- 
plied to this product, must not be looked upon as imply- 
ing that it has any relation to the well-known cocoanut. 
Cocoa is characterized, and distinguished from tea and 
coffee, by the larger amount of fatty and albuminous 
matters it contains, these principles averaging as much 
as about 50 and 20 per cent respectively in the manu- 
factured article. 



112 a treatise on foods. 

Composition of Cocoa. 

Cacao butter 50. 

Albumen and nitrogenous matter, 20. 

Theobromin 2. 

Starch with traces of sugar 10. 

Cellulose 2. 

Mineral matter 4. 

Water 12.00 



100.00 



While highly nutritive its richness in fat renders cocoa 
oppresive to a delicate stomach. 

As a closing article to the foregoing food analyse-, 
we will review milk and eggs. 

It happens that an article, viz., Milk, is produced by 
the operations of nature for the special purpose of sus- 
taining life during an early period of the existence of the 
mammalian animal. Such an article may be taken as 
affording a typical illustration of natural food. Now, 
we find on looking to its composition that it contains the 
following alimentary principles : 

Nitrogenous matter (casein principally, and in smaller 
quantity some other forms of albuminoid matter). 

Fatty matter (butter). 

A carbohydrate (lactin). 

Inorganic matter, comprising salines and water. 

The egg also stands in an analogous position. As all 
the parts of the young animal are evolved from it, it must 
needs represent the material, or contain the suitable prin- 
ciples, for the development and growth of the body, and 
the same groups of principles are to be recognized that 
exist in milk, although in the case of one of them it is 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 113 

only present to a somewhat minute extent. (1) Nitrog- 
enous matter is largely present under the form o\ albu- 
men, both in the white and yolk. (2) Oily matter is 
contained in the yolk. (3) Saccharine matter, a principle 
belonging to the carbohydrate group, is to be detected. 
but only, it must be mentioned, to a sparing extent, in 
which the composition o\ the egg differs notably from 
that of milk. (4) Inorganic matter, consisting ^i salines 
and water, completes the list, and for the saline matter 
required, that belonging to the shell is drawn upon as the 
process o\ incubation proceeds. As pointed out before 
there is an insufficiency oi mineral matter in the contents 
of the tgg unless the shell is taken into account. 

A HANDY TABLE OF VARIOUS FOODS. 



Linseed cake, 


28.3 


4i-3 


10. 


Decorticated cotton cake, 


41.0 


57-o 


10. 


Undecorticated cotton cake, 


24.0 


46.9 


8.0 


Bean meal, 


25.5 


45-5 


2.0 


Pea meal, 


22.4 


52.3 


25 


Rye meal, 


11. 


69.2 


2.0 


Indian corn, 


10.0 


68.0 


7.0 


Rice meal, 


6.9 


77.0 


4.0 


Palm nut meal. 


14.0 


76.0 


4.0 


Wheat bran. 


14.0 


50.0 


3-8 


Oats. 


12.0 


60.9 


6.0 


Barley, 


9-5 


6.6 


20 


Malt, 


9.0 


76.0 


3.0 


Malt culms. 


2b. 


60.0 


4.0 


Alsike clover in blossom, 


J5.3 


29.2 


3-5 


White clover in blossom. 


14.9 


34-3 


3-5 


Red clover in blossom. 


13-4 


29.9 


3-2 


Common meadow hay, 


8.02 


41-3 


2.0 



b.05 


35-a 


2.0 


-•5 


38.2 


2.0 


2.0 


21.0 




i 5 


- 


: 


1.0 


5. 1 


0. 1 


2.0 


- 


: 



A r K B A T 1 S E N i- OPS. 

Pea straw, 
$ Oat straw, 
Potatoes, 

C . ■ ts, 

Turnips. 

Mangels, 

FEEDING FOR WINTER EGGS. 

I have had my troubles getl g . - to prod- 
. _- g : cold months of th< For *. 

- my tnone} - ced on a 1 g-s that 
nevei gallop* g thost three years the 

. ar banked the g 
e struck a natural d m my 

5. I learned g e meaning 

generally works itself ul this 
ns th< g e feed store owners bah 

on the credit side of the bank ledger, 1: sounded 
interesting my unthinking- and unreasoning- intel 
whik s to mc the merits of 

their balanced hen feeds. sition usually 

about thus : 

Composition of "Oik" Mixed Hen 1-V 

Sunflower sec - 

Millet, 

Indian corn. 

Kaffir corn. 

Sweet corn. 

Whole corn. 

D ackf '. corn, 

Wheat screenings 

Barley. 

Oats. 

Buckwheat. 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 115 

Looked good to nit' then, and seemed to be cunningly 
thought (>ut, 1>ui after a prolonged study of foods and 
their analyses it did not look nearly so good to my 
awakening "thinker/' In three years, with an average 
of a hundred and fifty liens to winter, my 'balance shrunk 
something around five hundred dollars, and the egg pro- 
duction was nil. 

It is really amazing the way non producers of the hen 
tribe can eat up your good money, and, as a mere inci- 
dent, it may be mentioned as equally amazing, the very 
small amount of knowledge the average person has of 
the constituents of food substances. 

What started me to thinking- all the feed men were 
away off in their calculations of furnishing an egg pro- 
ducing food, and I honestly give them credit for really 
trying to put up such a food, was that I purchased a cow. 
It was not long after that, when the cold weather set in, 
that it was noticeable the cow was producing milk just as 
plentifully tied up in the shed eating a combined clover 
and timothy hay, with also a little corn fodder for variety,, 
and a couple of quarts of bran more as a laxative than 
anything else; producing milk just as rich in butter fat 
as she had during the warm weather. If, thought I, this 
cow can produce milk abounding in a good grade of fat 
from nothing but clover and timothy hay, or from nothing 
but ordinary pasture, why the deuce cannot hens produce 
eggs from the same substances. 

Then began a frantic search for knowledge. Foods 
haunted me by day and disturbed my sleep o' nights. 
The search for knowledge, with such a goal as winter 
egg production for its objective, was certain to result in 



116. A TREATISE OX FOODS. 

success if dietetic principles were applied to the hen as 
intelligently as to the human being. The hens were evi- 
dently both willing and anxious to help me along. They 
had long since become wearied of balanced rations which 
passed through them without stopping to even suggest 
the egg proposition. That study of foods and the suc- 
cess attending it have led to the writing of this treatise 
on foods, so that all who run may read. and. incidentally, 
reap a profit from any breed of chickens they may happen 
to be keeping. 

Of course many o\ my dollars had gone to the various 
wise men of the East, who had books to sell at one to five 
dollars, which said books told one how to put in lots of 
one's valuable time doing a foolish piece of labor called 
"sprouting." or "processed" oats. Likewise many other 
men had "systems." but as you are all familiar with them 
and the wonderful results they are said to accomplish, 
on paper, it will not be necessary to "strain your system" 
by a recapitulation. One of the very real wise men is 
attempting to patent a growing grain crop. There is a 
chance for you, my dear reader, get out a patent on the 
potato crop — that will beat Armour in his wheat corner. 
T charge you nothing for the advice. 

To the feed store men I said: Out upon you: away 
with your bone meals: away with your beef scraps: they 
enter the hen as such, pass through her as such and arc 
thrown on the manure pile practically unchanged from 
the state in which eaten, making. 1 agree, a very good, 
but a very expensive fertilizer. $2.75 to $3.00 per 
hundred pounds for fertilizer, whew, no wonder 1 was 
growing poor quite rapidly. 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 117 

•Did you, my reader, ever feed a cow beef scraps to 
produce milk? Did you ever feed a cow bone meal 
to increase the production of butter fat? Not much, 
you say; the cow docs quite well on pasture and salt, and 
she does not add grasshoppers and bugs to her diet even 
in warm weather. 

My hens were finally placed on the following mixed 
diet, which from a dietetic point of view struck me as 
being about right. It is right. 

Whole corn for breakfast and supper. 

Whole rye for noon meal. 

Bran and linseed meal, with salt, in a common box. 

Cut clover and timothy hay, soaked over night in 
warm water. 

For the drinking crocks the beverage from the soaked 
haw 

That is all there is to the feeding and it makes hen- 
lay so fast it will keep you busy picking up the eggs any 
winter day. The mash is wet, after being well mixed 
together in a dry state. Four quarts of wdieat bran and 
a quart and a half ni linseed meal will suffice as "hopper" 
food for ;:> to 100 hens for :24 hours. The way chickens 
will eat of that cut hay and mixed mash will make you sit 
up and take notice.' The way they will repay you for 
giving them a rational food supply will tickle you. 

Look back at the composition of the tgg and you 
will understand the egg production. Thirty per cent of 
fat — the yolk all fat — that is where your corn and linseed 
meal come in, the rye very rich in the other necessary 
constituents "balances" the diet, and the green stuff is 
nature's preserved food-stuff for the cold weather. The 



118 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

hay by soaking over night is broken down and the tough 
texture softened; a manufacturer of any of our so-called 
breakfast-foods, would no doubt speak of this hay as 
"pre-digested" — and with reason, as it is already softened 
and moistened ready to undergo instant transformation 
the moment it reaches the hens crop. There is no labor 
preparing this hay. Simply cut it into short lengths in a 
cutting box, throw some into a 1-i-quart pail and pour 
water on it. and you have green food for 100 hens for 
a full day. Dilute the water from the hay with sufficient 
more water to go round your flock, thus they get all the 
good the hay possesses. I feed it in a box the same as 
the mash. The cost, figuring about five pounds of hay to 
a bushel, with hay at $9.00 per ton (that's what I paid 
for mine this fall) will come to about two and a half cents 
per bushel. That beats even your much advertised 10 
cents per bushel stuff, and you do not raise a grain crop 
the whole of your spare time. You must, however, to 
get good results, never let up on the lice part of your 
labor. Also keep good grit, oyster shell and charcoal 
before the hens at all times. In the past I have paid a 
robber's price for alfalfa meal, and it never was a tenth 
as satisfying as common cut hay. 

My coop is built with a sloping flat roof, sides of one 
inch boards of any old kind of lumber, covered with a 
one-ply brand of roofing paper. Three varieties of 
chickens — B. P. Rocks, White Leghorns and R. I. Reds — 
do equally well in producing hen fruit on the above feed. 
There is an allowance of about four square feet for each 
hen and they are never out of doors from Fall until 
Spring. The writers for poultry papers who dope out 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 119 

the statement that each hen ought to have, and must 
have, not less than ten square feet of space to root around 
in, are about as close to facts in this matter as they are 
in matters of feed. Twenty of my hens will lay equally 
as well with four square 'feet as they will with twenty 
square feet, and, I have no doubt, even better. One long 
house separated into pens by the use of poultry netting 
fills the bill. My hens are not tempted to acrobatics by 
suspended cabbage plants. All they do is eat the right 
food and lay eggs. There is no artificial heat, and there 
are no so-called automatic non-freezing hot water foun- 
tains, as nature never, to my knowledge, provided or in- 
tended such contraptions. 

When buying your feed get the whole corn. You can 
rest assured then that you are not paying a high price for 
ground up corn-cobs and the floor sweepings. All ex- 
periments prove whole corn just as valuable as the 
cracked or ground grains, One hundred hens fed this 
way will cost perhaps forty cents per day for feed, and 
laying, sixty eggs per day at an average price near thirty 
cents a dozen will give you a nice clean profit of one 
dollar per day. These advertisers who get hundreds of 
dollars a clay from so many hens do not include the cost 
of the ads, etc. The owner of the great Crystal White 
Peggy might honestly advertise that he made $1,000 a 
day from one hen, considering the price he got from the 
foreigner for five of the hen's descendents, but he does 
not seem to be in that business. 

A good rule for feeding is always to feed just about 
what the flock will nicely clean up in the course of the 
day. 



120 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

Another idea I have gotten rid of is that of feeding 
skim milk to the chickens as a beverage. It does not 
amount to anything as an egg producer, and my observa- 
tion has shown me that the chickens will fill up on it to 
the exclusion of the foods they ought to have. As a 
liquid for wetting a mash, it is all right. 

EGG PRESERVATION. 

The poultry journals are crowded with advertise- 
ments of persons anxious to separate you from your 
money, or a part of it, by telling- you for one dollar, ten 
dimes, or one hundred copper cents, how to preserve 
eggs and hold them for higher prices. Any wholesale 
drug company will he able to supply you with soda silicate 
commonly called liquid-glass and water-glass, at a price 
of about I.** cents per gallon (about 1:2 pounds), this is 
diluted with an equal quantity of water. If eggs are 
dipped twice in this solution they will keep at least a year 
under ordinary conditions. This is the much advertised 
recipe, and as it cost me nothing to figure it out. it costs 
you nothing here, but it saves you that hundred cents. 
By dipping is meant wetting egg in the above solution 
the day it is gathered and again dipping egg the next 
day the second time — this giving a coating of liquid 
glass, which prevents evaporation. 

INCUBATIOW 

I am going to tell you something about incubation 
that no paper or incubator man has ever been able to 
tell you, although you see the question persistently asked, 
"Why do my chicks die in the shell?" Did you ever 



A TREATISE ON FOODS. 121 

figure it out? I did, from reading the earlier articles in 
this book on food, eggs, etc. 

There is the making of a chicken in the yolk of an 



't> 



eo'o* 



How? By the constituents of the "yellow" and 
"white" and shell. 

Through the influence of incubating heat. 

A yolk is not alive with blood, or flesh, or bones, or 
feathers before it is incubated and hatched. What con- 
stitutes incubating or hatching? Simply this: Heating — 
a certain degree and duration of it — sets in motion the 
"functions" of the chemical "organic" compounds which 
compose egg-yolk, as winding sets in motion the mechan- 
ism of a clock ; and the egg, unalive, begins to breathe. 
Yes, sir, begins to "breathe." 

The "incubated" egg actually inhales oxygen and 
exhales carbonic acid gas as plants and animals do; and 
perspires vapor or moisture through its shell-coat as we 
do through our skin. 

Day by day, the activity or motion of the yolk-chem- 
icals increases and "attracts" the chemicals of the white 
and of the shell — and behold — a chick. 

Why hatched? Because heat motion helped to start 
motion of a given kind, called breathing, inside of the 
egg shell. If that heat, or the lack or excess of some 
degrees of it, had started another kind of motion, called 
fermentation, inside of that same egg shell — as often 
happens — the outcome or product would have been rot 
instead of a chick. 

. The heat started "function'' or breathing in the egg- 
volk. and heat awakened or wound up the "still" mechan- 



122 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

ism of organized matter, thereby setting in motion certain 
physical elements which moisture and minerals and albu- 
menoids maintained until blood and flesh became "ani- 
mated'' with instinct — another form of motion — which 
led its owner to fracture the egg shell that the chicken 
might wiggle out into surroundings containing greater 
stores of heat, moisture, minerals, albumenoids, light, and 
joys or sorrows, according to the wisdom in brooding 
possessed by its owner. 

Now, to sum it all up, it is "oxidation" which gives 
life to the chick in its shell, and oxidation which thins 
the shell progressively until the chicken can escape at the 
right time into an atmosphere where there is more 
oxygen and less heat. 

Do you understand now why your chicks die in the 
shell? 

Lack of oxygen. 

I have never seen an incubator that was anywhere 
near perfect in supplying sufficient fresh air to ozygen- 
ize the poor little cuss struggling in that warm egg 
shell. Incubator manufactorers especially make matters 
worse by telling their customers to set up the 
machines in a cellar where the temperature is pretty 
nearly steady. Now did you ever see a cellar where the 
supply of oxygen was such that you would like to spend 
a large part of your time in it? Never. An incubator 
properly constructed should admit plenty of air; there 
should be a row of warm pipes beneath the egg tray as 
well as the heat above the tray, and the thermometer 
ought to be suspended even with the eggs. Outside tem- 
perature ought not to influence an incubator very much 



a treatisk on foods. 123 

if it is properly insulated — say it be as well insulated as 
our fireless cookers. Think over this, build one and grow 
prosperous. 

The brooders are far worse than the incubators as at 
present constructed. The idea of keeping a chicken 
breathing such hot air is pretty nearly a crime. When 
hen- brooded their heads are "out of doors" and their 
little bodies tucked indoors. If you want a fireless, or oil 
saving brooder, why not use soap stones for heaters? 
That would be more humane than nothing in the way 
of heat. 

That's all about chickens, and egg production, and in- 
cubation. Remember you save the price of this book 
many times over in the saving effected by removing beef 
scraps, alfalfa meal, bone meal, etc., from the daily menu, 
besides learning how to preserve eggs with "water-glass." 
Feed as instructed and you will have eggs all the year 
round and at the minimum expense for feed and labor. 

As an illustration of the ignorance prevailing where 
the composition of food is concerned — I wrote Air. Chas. 
A. Cyphers, designer of many incubators, and many at- 
tachments for use thereon. He is also President and 
actual head of the mammoth chicken park known as the 
Model Poultry Farm, near Buffalo, N. Y. In reply to my 
question as to the relative value of green foods in winter, 
his response, to be brief was: "Mangels are as good as 
anything." Now, that reply reflects the lack of attention 
this most important matter receives at the hands of so- 
called practical poultrymen. If you will refer back a 



124 A TREATISE ON FOODS. 

few pages to "a handy table of the various foods," you 
will see Mangels at the bottom of the list — about ninety 
per cent water and no nourishment at all. You can draw 
your own conclusions. 

THE FINAL WORD. 

This work covers, of course, many foods not strictly 
on the hen dietary; however, the book being of an edu- 
cational nature, and destined (I hope) to reach thou- 
sands of homes where a food analysis was never before 
seen, it was thought only proper that the everyday food 
substances be given attention, for every child and every 
parent ought to know something of the origin and uses 
of the foods they daily consume. 

(THE END.) 



A TREATISE ON FOOD 
AND EGG PRODUCTION 



3C 




By Frederick Kelley 



LE My '09 



